Schisma Barchinonium
by Caprichoso
Summary: Written for Qoheleth's Malachy O'More Challenge. After Titans Together, the Titans decide it's time for a little vacation before heading back to Jump. Barcelona is a perfect spot for some relaxation... or to uncover a sinister plot. And of course, there's bound to be some BBRae.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** This is my attempt at completing Qoheleth's Malachy O'More Challenge, which can be found on his profile. I don't generally release the first chapter of a story until it's completed and proofread on my hard drive, but it's been almost four months since I received the prompt, and I have enough of it written that I should hopefully be able to finish in a timely manner. For the challenge, I was assigned "Schisma Barchinonium," or Schism in Barcelona. According to Qoheleth: "It's the 44th motto on the Malachy List, and is traditionally associated with Gil Sánchez Muñoz, who moonlighted as an antipope during the Western Schism under the name of Clement VIII." So without further ado, let's get dangerous!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any ancient prophecies as far as I know, nor do I own the Teen Titans.

—

**CHAPTER 1**

_He hangs high above the pews, lit by a myriad of colors as sunset filters through the stained glass. Blood flows down his body to land on the altar. He notices none of this._

_Pain, and the voice of his tormentor— these are the only two things that exist in his world._

_"Well, little boy, it's been a pleasure, but I really do have to be going. Give my regards to the rest of the Titans... not that you'll live long enough to see them." _

_Blackness swims at the corners of his eyes, pressure crowding out his vision. So hard to breathe. The pounding of blood in his ears almost drowns out the sound of footsteps, the creak and slam of the gigantic doors._

_His one good lung can't expand. Have to move, have to get air. Trembling legs push up through agony. Two broken hands lift seven wounds, fighting for inches._

_He collapses again and again. Struggles against the euphoria and fuzzy contentment that would be so, so easy. Time stretches interminably, and he loses the battle._

_Everything goes numb._

_Black descends._

_—_

"So, tell me again why it was a good idea to let Beast Boy pick our vacation destination?" The slight crackle of the T-Ship's intercom did nothing to diminish the sarcasm in Raven's voice.

"Friend Raven," Starfire's reply filtered through their headsets, "Robin assures me that there is nothing wrong with this city called Barcelona. We are all needing to do the blowing off of gaseous water after our ordeal with the Brotherhood of Evil, and in our friend's defense, he picked the locale for our vacation making every attempt at impartiality."

"Spinning a globe and sticking a finger on it doesn't exactly inspire confidence... nor does the fact that he called it _Bark_-a-lona."

"Hey! I learned quick enough, didn't I? Didn't end up calling it that a second time. Besides, have you even researched the place?" Pulling out a Lonesome Globe compendium on Barcelona, Beast Boy thumbed to a page with a folded corner. "The guide book says it's like gothic central over there. You'll be right at home with all the other children of the night, Rae."

The temperature in his cabin dropped to the point where he could see his breath, but it still wasn't nearly as cold as the voice in his ears. "One. I am _not_ a goth. Two. The book is talking about architecture, not a subculture. Three. My name is Raven, not Rae or any other idiotic nickname you invent for me. Four. You will be shutting up now, because if you say another word before we land, I will teleport the two of us to a butcher somewhere in Barcelona and force feed you raw ham until the rest of the Titans find us."

A strangled noise made its way out of Beast Boy before he clapped a hand over his mouth. Even after his portion of the T-Ship was no longer an impromptu meat locker, he still glanced fearfully over at the cockpit housing the purple-haired girl every few seconds.

An hour later, Beast Boy had managed to remain silent for the remainder of the trip in spite of the fact that Cyborg had begun capitalizing on his predicament with jokes at his expense.

"So since BB doesn't seem to have any objections, I guess I'll be turning half of his room into a combination curing rack and meat-smoking area. We're gonna have the best bacon in California, not to mention nice, juicy jerky. Think of all the adorable little animals we can chow on! Pig, deer, ostrich—"

The wheel of their landing gear brushed against the ground.

"No! No no no nononono! No meat in my room, Cy!" Denials flew out of Beast Boy's mouth

like the spray of a fire hose, jumbling together into a steady stream. Thirty seconds later, he sat panting in his seat, exhausted from the verbal sprint as their plane began taxiing in.

Silence reigned for a moment, then Raven's voice reached their ears again. "An entire hour without Beast Boy's yammering... I need to threaten him more often."

—

Check-in at the hotel was brisk and relatively devoid of fanfare, considering that a group of five metahumans in uniform was an uncommon sight in Barcelona, to say the least. It certainly helped that Robin had been in contact with the local U.S. Consulate to communicate their plans... and was spending a considerable sum on the lodgings.

Robin, a firm believer in preparedness, had booked their suite for a day in advance of their arrival and a day after their scheduled departure. Superhero business aside, life still had a way of throwing a wrench into even the best of plans, and the extra expense was more than justified by the peace of mind it bought.

And so, at 7:35 AM local time, after a grueling flight from Jump City, the Titans first entered their hotel room.

The five teenagers had scarcely made it through the doorway when their youngest member let out an enthusiastic whoop and charged for the enormous couch. "Dibs on this baby tonight!" A twisting front handspring took him sailing over the back of the sofa and directly into a supine position sprawled across the cushions.

The remaining Titans looked at one another and shrugged.

"So..." Cyborg began, eyeing Robin, "Not that it matters much for me, considering that I just plug in my generator block and switch off, but what are the sleeping arrangements like around here?"

Robin smiled. "This is the penthouse suite— the biggest in the hotel. There are two separate bedrooms, each with a king bed."

Raising a hand, Raven began ticking off Titans on her fingers. "Then... Cyborg's taken care of. Beast Boy gets the couch. That leaves three of us and only two beds. Brilliant planning."

The Boy Wonder shifted his gaze to the ground. "Oh. Well, since you prefer your privacy and all, I guess Starfire and I could... uhh... the beds are pretty big, so, um..." He trailed off into incoherence, growing redder by the second as his boot scuffed the ground.

"This arrangement shall be glorious!" Starfire announced, spinning in a circle as she grabbed hold of Robin with an audible cracking of joints. "I have not shared a bed with a companion since the days of my training on Okaara, when we had to sleep close together in order to avoid being eaten by the ferocious and muciferous Grokthar Beast! Truly, this shall be just like the times that are old!"

All but two of the Titans indulged in some degree of jollity at the situation, and when a wheezed, "Old times," escaped from a now-purple Robin, Beast Boy fell off the couch laughing.

Their levity was cut short, however, when a deafening boom sounded outside their window. The view of the adjoining plaza was now marred by plumes of smoke and flame. As tourists ran screaming from the disaster site, Cyborg pointed to a trio of figures standing atop the clock tower, silhouetted against the destruction.

"Looks like these guys don't want us enjoying our vacation just yet," he said even as his companions began readying themselves for action.

"Then we'd better take them down quickly and get back to relaxing," their leader remarked. "Raven, teleport us to the rooftop, and then we'll plan our attack from a better vantage point."

The empath motioned for the assembled teens to circle around her, and a raven's call rang out as they were enveloped in black energy and disappeared.

—

**AN:** I cribbed a line in the intro from Demon Hunter's "I Play Dead," given that it fits the nature of the scene quite well. Also, I'm certain I've screwed up at least something regarding Barcelona either in this or future chapters; Google just isn't the same as being able to walk down the streets of a city. While a certain amount of creative license can be a good thing, I really would like to keep this as accurate as possible. If anyone notices errors, please feel free to point them out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Titans, and I'm not making money for forcing them to dance around for my enjoyment... and hopefully yours.

**CHAPTER 2**

Atop the hotel roof, the Titans crouched and surveyed the burning plaza. Raven worked to reinforce her empathic shields against the pounding terror of the civilians below, sparing some of her attention to listen to Robin's plan.

"Priority is to protect civilians with minimal property damage. We're not officially allowed to do what we're about to do, so we need to be sure it doesn't backfire and get us thrown in jail. Starfire will fly me down to the top of the tower, and Beast Boy will take Cyborg. Raven, you'll be in charge of extinguishing the fire while the rest of us take down the bad guys. Questions?"

Beast Boy raised a tentative hand.

"What, Beast Boy?" Robin snapped.

"Uh, what if we switched? Cy's really big and heavy, so—"

"This is _not_ the time to indulge your laziness, Beast Boy." Readying a handful of birdarangs, the Boy Wonder stood. "We stick to the plan. Titans, GO!" With that, he launched himself from the roof, trusting Starfire to catch him on the way down.

As the Tamaranean shot off to intercept their leader, Beast Boy's mumbling fell on only two sets of ears other than his own. "Oh well. Hope they don't have guns." Morphing into a gigantic pterosaur, he grabbed Cyborg's shoulders and lifted off.

Raven floated towards the clock tower on a disc of black energy, hands already extended to begin smothering the flames with her telekinesis. Just as she began, though, the sizzle of superheated air reached her ears. The trio atop the tower had begun firing some sort of energy weapons at the Titans. Erecting a shield to protect herself, she glanced at her teammates.

Robin and Starfire were dodging the beams with ease, the acrobat flattened against the warrior princess to present as small a profile as possible even as he returned fire with weaponry from his utility belt.

Beast Boy and Cyborg, on the other hand, were easy targets. The pterodactyloid's ungainly flapping was doing almost nothing to draw him or his teammate out of the line of fire, but it was more than enough to foul Cyborg's aim with his sonic cannon.

A burst of three beams seared holes through the flying dinosaur's left wing, and squawking in pain, he began to plummet with his cargo. _Quetzalcoatlus northropi _was built for cruising, not for maneuverability, and with one wing damaged, it was all but useless. Beast Boy morphed into a giant kangaroo and kicked Cyborg on a trajectory that would carry him onto the top of the clock tower, then shifted to a peregrine falcon and dive-bombed their enemies.

Cursing under her breath, Raven conjured a net to catch her half-robot teammate before he left a crater. Four hundred pounds of superhero crashed into the black webbing, rolling to take up firing position directly behind the trio of villains. With Robin and Starfire engaging one of the criminals and Beast Boy about to make impact with another as a mountain goat, only one was free to turn and attack Victor.

Satisfied that the situation was mostly in hand, Raven began concentrating once more on extinguishing the fires. It was simple work, for the most part, but it took her attention away from the battle.

It was just as the last flame died out that she saw a massive plume of black smoke rising from where the fight had been taking place. As coughing wracked her teammates, Raven saw the three villains gliding down separate sides of the building, rappelling at breakneck speeds. She reached out to each, hoping to glean some mental signature that would aid in tracking the fugitives, but where there should have been at least some slight trace of emotion, there was nothing.

These things had unheard-of psychic shielding... if they were even living at all.

Pushing aside her shock to summon up her powers once more, Raven dispelled the smoke, blowing it away from the Titans. She floated down to them, ready to begin healing any injuries they had sustained, when Robin grabbed hold of her forearm.

"Which way did they go, Raven?" he demanded. "You were in the air, so you must have seen."

Black energy covered his fingers, forcibly uncurling them from around her arm. She bent them backwards just enough for discomfort, then released him. "Calm down, Robin. They split up. We won't find them, and even if we do, we won't be in any shape to fight them if we don't stop and regroup."

The Boy Wonder seethed, but Raven stared him down long enough for Starfire to place a hand on his shoulder and calm him.

"I don't like it," he muttered as the empath set about healing the handful of bruises and scrapes he and Starfire had sustained.

"Know what I don't like?" an icy voice said from behind Raven. "I don't like being called lazy when I'm trying to suggest a strategy." Beast Boy's eyes were blazing with fury as he stalked toward their leader, clutching his left arm. "I know you think I'm just the annoying kid who turns into random critters, but I have to pick from the entire animal kingdom, and whatever plan you force me to follow drastically limits my options. In your mind I turn into a pterodactyl and that's it, but there are over a hundred species of pterosaur, and I have to choose the one that's going to do the best job." He gingerly released his arm and winced as air hit the horrendous burns. "Cyborg is at _least_ 200 pounds heavier than you," he continued, gritting his teeth against the pain and shrugging off Raven's hand as she tried to help him. "For Starfire, that's no problem. She can lift Cy with one hand and fly circles around me in just about anything I can shift into. But if I have to carry him, I need one of the biggest flyers that's ever lived, and it's kind of hard to dodge gunfire when you're the dinosaur equivalent of a jumbo jet!"

Robin bristled. "Given your track record, Beast Boy, it was a reasonable assumption that you were trying to avoid working harder than absolutely necessary."

"Hold up," Cyborg said, ignoring the sparks that flew from his damaged chest plate. "Speaking of track records, who was it that saved the Titans from the Brotherhood while your butt was on ice?"

A snort of derision escaped from beneath Robin's mask. "A drop of fresh water in the ocean."

Beast Boy's skin rippled and he let out an impossibly deep growl, and Cyborg's face contorted in fury. Robin's hand rested on his utility belt as Starfire looked on, paralyzed by conflicting loyalties. Just as both sides seemed ready to come to blows, Raven stepped between them. "I really hate to interfere in watching my family tear itself apart," she drawled, "But in case you three forgot, there are criminals on the loose, and I have no way to track them."

Beast Boy cocked his head in confusion. "Your empathy thingie isn't working?"

She shook her head. "I scanned them, but it's like they're completely invisible to me." The sorceress rested a hand on his injured arm and enveloped it with a blue glow. The searing pain flowing into her hands was significantly abated by the chanting of her mantra, but it was still enough to make her voice waver.

The shuddering sigh of relief from her green teammate, though, was a worthwhile reward. He looked at her with gratitude shining in his eyes and a genuine smile. "Thanks, Rae."

She was about to give her customary reply, until she noticed something about his statement. "Ven. Ra-ven. Two syllables."

"Oh, yeah. Oops," he said, those sparkling green eyes making no secret of his lack of regret.

Turning to Cyborg, she assessed his condition and found only mechanical components damaged. "Any injuries I can help with, Cyborg?" she asked, not wanting to miss a hidden danger.

"Nah," he said, shrugging as his chest sparked once again. "It's all robot parts. Thanks for the offer, though, little lady."

Robin's voice cut through, shattering the calm. "Good. Then we're ready to start searching for the criminals. We'll split up and radio back if we find any—"

"Wait, wait, wait," Beast Boy said, waving his hands. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, Robin, but there are a few problems. One, we're in Spain. I'm sure you and Star speak Spanish, but the rest of us can't even ask for directions to the nearest pizza place. Plus, like you said before, we're not supposed to be doing the crime fighting thing here, and we could just as easily get arrested for trying." As the sound of sirens drew closer, he held a hand to his ear to illustrate his point. "Two, we don't have any way to track these guys. They don't smell like anything, Raven can't sense anything off of them, and unless you, Cy, or Star have some trick up your sleeve I don't know about, you guys can't find them either."

"That, Beast Boy, is why we split up. We cover more ground—"

"So we can all get lost in the second largest city in Spain? These guys have a five-minute head start on us, and home field advantage. Face it, Robin: it's time to go back to the hotel and find out what we can about these guys that way."

"Are you deliberately _trying_ to undermine my authority every chance you get, or is it something that just comes naturally?" Robin's eye twitched, making his mask ripple.

Beast Boy tilted his head and frowned. "What's got you so rattled, Robin? This isn't like you. You're usually a solid leader, but you're not thinking things through."

"I would be _just fine_ if you would quit the insubordination act—"

"No, you wouldn't," Raven said, her arms crossed. "Since before we even left Jump, you've been on edge. You didn't think about sleeping arrangements, you botched the plan for a quick takedown, and now you almost sent us on a wild goose chase through an unfamiliar city. None of that is like you."

A sneer twisted Robin's lips, and he opened his mouth to reply, but an orange hand on his shoulder stopped him cold. "Friend Raven is correct, Robin. You have not been yourself recently. I have not wished to speak of this, but... I have been worried for you."

The Boy Wonder's mouth pressed into a thin line, and his fists clenched and unclenched several times before some of the tension in his posture disappeared. "All right. Let's get back to the hotel room, and I'll brief you all."

—

**AN: **This is my first attempt at a story with much of an ongoing plot, so to speak; I generally favor taking little snapshots of moments, so I have very little practice with keeping continuity along a piece this big. It's currently standing at a bit over 15,000 words on my hard drive, with at least one more chapter left to be written. Please let me know how I'm doing, and what I can improve.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

They sat in silence on the couch, Robin facing the rest of them as he paced the length of the room. Occasionally, he would stop and open his mouth, only to let out a growl and resume his pacing.

Apart from the constant heads-up display in his left eye showing him the time and other data, Cyborg's technology came with another curse: every idle curiosity he had was answered almost instantaneously by his computerized brain, the loyal servant that never managed to understand that he preferred being able to wonder.

Hence, he knew it had been two minutes and ten seconds and Robin had made forty-three trips across the room before the masked young man stopped, looked at the floor and began to speak.

"I'm not supposed to know any of this," he said, barely above a whisper. "The only reason I do know is because Batman called to warn me. The Justice League are keeping this as quiet as they possibly can; only the absolute core members know at the moment." Robin's face tightened. "I'm breaking trust with Batman to tell you because this affects all of us, and we have a better chance of surviving if we're all on our guard."

Beast Boy's gulp was audible. "Surviving?"

Batman's protege nodded, expression grim. "There are rumblings high up in the criminal underworld about some sort of superweapon being developed, something that will be able to destroy the whole Justice League... maybe all at once. The only reason we heard anything about it is that..." Robin's face twitched, as if resisting a sneer. "One of Batman's... associates... in the Rogues' Gallery is uncomfortable with the idea of exterminating every superhero, and warned him."

"Why doesn't the JLA put some pressure on a few key people and see what comes up, then?" Cyborg asked.

"They don't know who to push, and if they make a mistake, they risk driving whoever's behind it underground. The Justice League is trying very, very hard to make sure the weapon's developer thinks they don't suspect anything."

"So," Raven said, tapping her fingers on the couch, "The Justice League is in danger, and Batman warns _you_ about it? Something's not adding up here."

"Please, Robin, is there something more you wish to tell us of this threat?" Starfire asked.

Robin sighed and sat atop the coffee table facing them, raking gloved fingers through his hair. "The reason Batman called to warn me was a snippet of information he managed to bribe out of the Riddler. He said the younger generation would be the key to bringing down the old guard. No idea what it means, other than that we're not safe either."

"Lovely," Beast Boy and Raven said in unison. Immediately, their heads snapped around to stare at each other.

"I believe I understand now," said Starfire. "You were very much bothered by the fact that you could not tell us, your friends, of something that affected us. This is what was affecting your leadership, yes?"

A flicker of something passed over Robin's mask, and he nodded. "Yeah," he said, a bit too quickly for Cyborg's liking.

"Good," Victor said, unable to keep a hard edge completely out of his voice. "Then we'll be back to normal now."

Another nod from Robin. "In the meantime, all we can really do is try to enjoy our vacation and stay on guard. As uncomfortable as it makes me knowing that they're out there, we don't even know if the three criminals we fought are involved in what I just told you."

Beast Boy grinned, pulling his Lonesome Globe guide out from between the couch cushions. "Enjoy our vacation?" he exclaimed. "Gotcha covered, guys."

—

"I am afraid I do not understand, Robin," Starfire said as they walked away from yet another helpful stranger. "Why would friend Beast Boy merely give us a piece of paper with several addresses and nothing more?"

Robin smiled at her, giving her a not-unpleasant fluttering sensation in her stomachs. "It's a sort of scavenger hunt, Starfire," he said.

An ancient and primal thrill shot through her. "It has been a very long time since I last hunted," she purred. "Tell me, are these carrion-eating creatures that we will be hunting dangerous?"

The handsome boy's face contorted in confusion for a moment before realization struck him. "Uh, a scavenger hunt just means you go looking for a list of things, Star. There's no hunting animals involved."

"Oh." She attempted to keep the disappointment from her voice, but was unsuccessful. "It is often considered a courtship ritual for a male and a female to hunt deadly prey together on Tamaran." A thought occurred to her, and she brightened. "Is this 'scavenger hunt' a method of courtship here on Earth?"

Robin's eyes widened, and he turned a color not unlike Starfire's hair. "No, no, just a friend thing! I mean, it _can_ be done by couples, but... uhh... we..."

Hurt welled up in Starfire's chest, and she began walking ahead to hide her face from him. "I understand, Robin."

Just as she passed by, a gloved hand took hold of hers, and her heart began racing. "Starfire, I..." As she turned back to look at him, a struggle was etched on his face. "I can't... but... if I could... it would be you."

A bittersweet mixture of emotions rose up inside Tamaran's daughter. "I do not believe that you cannot, Robin, but I will try to be content with what you feel that you can give."

They walked in silence for quite some time, something floating in between them that was equal parts melancholy, frustration, and excitement. It was not altogether unwelcome, but it wrought havoc with her nerves.

When they finally arrived at their destination, Starfire could not restrain a squeal of delight, nor could she help floating several inches in the air. "It is truly glorious, Robin!"

Lush greenery and striking architecture melded together and stretched out in a grandiose display. Sculpted fountains sprayed geysers into the air as ducks and children frolicked in the afternoon sun. A nearby sign displayed a helpful map, as well as a name: _Parc de la Ciutadella_.

She turned to find Robin with a hand over half his face, muttering about a "nosy green matchmaker". Giggling, she took his hand and dragged him into the park.

—

Thanks to the GPS in his head, Cyborg didn't have to worry about asking directions as he navigated the streets of an area that was apparently called La Ribera. With no more than a simple command, he could summon a myriad of information on the address Beast Boy had handed him, but his best friend had specifically asked him to disable that function and let it be a surprise.

"If this sends me to a toaster factory, I'm gonna splat the grass stain," he muttered as his feet carried him closer to the dot on the map.

The area was quite scenic, not that Cyborg was all that into such things. Tall buildings in striking colors towered over the crowds that walked the narrow streets, umbrella-shaded tables from neighboring cafés punctuating the sidewalks.

As he turned the corner to see his final destination, Victor froze, a look of awe on his face. Standing out like a sore thumb among all the dignified European scenery was a bright green booth with a red banner in Spanish. Cyborg's automatic translation software kicked in: "All-You-Can-Eat Pinchos All Day". The booth had attracted quite a crowd of young people, who were walking away with smiles and orange wristbands.

The half-mechanical teen stood patiently in line, trying to be inconspicuous as he wiped at the trail of drool making its way down the human half of his face. When he reached the cashier, he produced a credit card from a compartment on his arm, then held out his wrist to receive his reward. Undoubtedly noting that he was from out of town, the young woman distributing the wristbands also handed him a map with several locations circled— the participating restaurants.

Unable to contain himself, Cyborg lifted the map in his orange-clad hand and let out a massive, "Booyah!"

When he looked around, the line behind him had retreated several feet, and the cashier was peeking out from under the table top.

With a nervous grin, the young man gave a tiny wave, and attempted a mangled, "Gracias," before wandering off to the nearest location on the map.

—

**AN:** Here's the beginning of the actual plot, which will tie into Titans and Justice League lore in the future. Also, I'm certain I'm screwing up all sorts of things about Barcelona here. If anyone's been there, please feel free to correct any discrepancies you see... other than the all-you-can-eat pinchos. I know they aren't real, but I want them to exist so very badly.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN:** More BBRae— a whole chapter of it, cause it won't stop writing itself. While the other individual scenes were short enough to be tacked onto the end of the fight scene, I had to deliberately chop this one.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own 'em. Don't sue.

**CHAPTER 4**

The purple metro sign overhead bore the inscription _Sant Antoni_. As she and Beast Boy wandered down the platform towards the escalator, Raven found herself wondering whether the Saint Anthony to whom the metro was dedicated was the patron saint of finding lost things, or the one responsible for the moniker "Saint Anthony's Fire," nowadays referred to as shingles. The idle curiosity was dispelled, however, when yet another person jostled her in passing.

The throng of people pressed about her, and she was once again grateful that her empathic shields muted the world around her, the cacophony of emotion reduced to a tolerable buzz.

When she remembered just whose idea it had been to take the metro in the first place, she gritted her teeth and promised to reward herself with some form of agonizing torture for Beast Boy.

The changeling in question was just ahead of her, turning his head every few seconds to be sure he hadn't left her behind. He was practically _skipping_ with excitement.

A group of tall men passed between her and Beast Boy, effectively cutting off her line of sight. With a soft curse in ancient Greek, she tried to push forward, to no avail.

Just as she feared she would lose her teammate in the throng, a gloved hand shot through the mass of people and latched onto hers. When that strong grip pulled her through the wall of bodies, she found herself face-to-face with the shapeshifter, who was giving her one of those trademark grins of his.

The lights in the station flickered ever so slightly.

"Stay with me, Rae," he said, tugging her up the stairs with him.

"Raven. And I swear by Trigon's pointy toenails, Beast Boy, if you _ever_ try to make me take the metro again—"

A finger to her lips stopped her short. "Shh. Don't worry; it's gonna be totally worth it. Just trust me for a couple more minutes."

Raven's cheeks began tingling with an unwelcome warmth, and a nearby trash can began spewing a fountain of refuse. With a deep breath, the empath regained her self-control and grabbed Beast Boy's finger. One smooth motion brought his hand into a supremely uncomfortable position as her soul-self pulled her hood up.

Swinging the green boy around to face her, she growled, "No one. Touches. My face."

There was a lull in the bustle of the metro, and a grumbling could be heard from the shapeshifter. "Not for lack of—" Suddenly, he stopped, realizing his words had been audible.

"What?" Raven said, arching an eyebrow as she released his finger.

Beast Boy turned a fascinating shade of forest green. "Uh, nothing."

For a moment, Raven toyed with the idea of digging a bit deeper into the matter with her empathy, but to do so would mean dropping her shields in the middle of the crowded subway. However strong her distaste for this station might have been, she didn't think that merited its destruction.

With a nod of her head, Raven gestured for her teammate to take charge and lead her to... wherever it was that he was taking them.

There were few things Trigon's daughter hated more than uncertainty. In nearly eighteen years of living, she recalled very few surprises that she could call pleasant.

Still, that green boy prancing ahead of her had been behind several of them, which was perhaps the only reason she pressed on through the bustle of bodies around them on the staircase, daring for once to trust her friend's judgment.

As he led her around a corner and onto another street with an unfamiliar name, that hope flickered. Just as she was about to open her mouth, though, Beast Boy stopped short and smiled at her.

"We're here," he said.

Raven saw little to distinguish this particular place from any other corner in Barcelona; there was a building with interesting architecture that she might place in the late 19th century, but there was no way that Beast Boy had brought her all this way for that...

A moment later, she noticed the vendors outside the building.

Nearly every stall was filled with books. From bestsellers in Spanish, Catalan and English to yellowed, cracking tomes in Latin, every conceivable type of book was on offer here.

"Remember that phone call I made before we took off?" Beast Boy asked, snapping her from her reverie. "I called the front desk to be sure we would make it in time. The book market's only on Sundays, and only till about 3. Apparently, the place you'll be most interested in is down this way."

So profound was Raven's shock that she offered no resistance when he took her hand once more and led her down the rows to the tiniest booth she had seen yet. Her hand dropped from his grasp as she scanned the covers and noted a number of titles from her own bookshelf in the Tower, many of them infamously difficult to find.

The wizened woman sitting on a three-legged stool under the awning let out a squawk as soon as her eyes fell upon Raven, and she leapt up and began babbling in Catalan, crossing herself vehemently.

The empath tried to hide her pain beneath indifference, but she suspected she wasn't doing a very good job. "Looks like she's caught on to the family resemblance," she murmured, hands coming up to ensure that her hood was still in place. The last thing she needed was Beast Boy harassing an octogenarian over the tears welling up in Raven's eyes. "Let's... let's just go."

"Hold on, Raven," Beast Boy said, a hand on her shoulder. "This is pretty similar to French. I think she's actually saying she's... happy?"

The empath raised an eyebrow. "You speak French?"

"I grew up in Africa," he said with a shrug.

"He is right," a voice said from behind them. As they turned, a girl about their own age held out her hands in a placating gesture. "Do not go, please! My grandmother is thanking the Holy Mother that you have come."

Raven's grip slackened, and her hood fell backwards. "...Thanking?"

The girl nodded. "She has the Second Sight. Her spirit was there to see your struggle against your father on the day the Prophecy came true."

Beast Boy cocked his head. "Wait a sec, everyone in the world was—"

"Turned to stone, yes. Including her. But that permitted her soul to wander and witness the battle. You will find that there are some in this world who are aware of what took place that day... and my grandmother is one of them." A smile settled onto her face. "She foresaw that you would come here, but could not say if she would be alive to see that day. Because of this, she passed the story to me, making me swear that if she died before you came to visit this place, I would tell you of our gratitude, and ask that you take any book you wish as a gift from our family."

The sorceress risked a glance at the old woman in question, who was now alternately clutching her hands to her heart and gesturing towards the stacks of books with a nod.

As Raven looked around, she shook her head. "Some of these books are beyond priceless. I didn't think a copy of _History of the Homo Magi_ even existed outside of Vandal Savage's personal library." She turned to the shopkeeper's granddaughter. "There's no way I can accept a gift like this."

"Please, it is the least we can offer you. After all," the girl said with a smile, "What use are books if the world has come to an end?"

Raven frowned. "It was _my _fault that the world ended."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Beast Boy turn with a book in hand and open his mouth to deny her claim, but he was beaten to it by the girl in front of them. "That was fate. You had no choice in that matter. But after you fulfilled your destiny, you chose to fight back, and you saved us all. It is for that reason that my grandmother and I remember you in our prayers each day."

An odd pang hit the purple-haired sorceress in the chest. "You... pray for me?"

"Yes. Every day."

Moisture returned to Raven's eyes unbidden. The irreplaceable tomes around her began fluttering, and she gasped out, "I... I have to go. I'm sorry. My powers... emotions... thank you. Please tell her."

In a flash, the sorceress summoned her soul-self and prepared to teleport back to the hotel. She was completely unprepared for the body that crashed into her and was sucked along for the ride.

After they materialized inside the bedroom assigned to Raven, Beast Boy's arms shook as they slowly disentangled themselves from her waist. His eyes were wide, and his teeth chattered. "Th-th-that's a n-new one, R-R-Rae," he managed after a moment.

Pillows and blankets flew in the air as Raven pummeled her teammate's chest with both fists. "Beast Boy, you idiot! I don't have shield myself from the interdimensional void as much as full humans do. If I had been traveling a longer distance, you could have suffered permanent damage!"

"I'll m-make a note of it," he said, finally managing to blink.

"What on _earth_ possessed you to do something that stupid?"

The green boy shrugged, making a visible effort to quell the shaking of his limbs. "You were hurting. Wasn't gonna let you run off alone."

"I'm _fine_, Beast—"

"No, you're not." Green eyes flashed. "You came back here so you could meditate, go back into hiding in that cozy little bubble where you let yourself believe you're not a hero and no one really cares about you. Not this time, Raven." With that, he seized her in a fierce hug.

The abruptness of the gesture overbalanced her, and both of them went toppling onto her bed, caught in the eye of a tornado made up of pillows and loose articles from around the room.

"You're a hero, just as much or more so than the rest of us," his scratchy voice echoed in her ear, invading her world. "You save hundreds of lives every day, billions sometimes, and even if not many people are there to see it when you do, some of us know. And it rips me up inside when I see that little flicker in your eyes as you deny it. You _are_ a hero, Raven. You're so incredibly wonderful and important, and I'm not letting you go until you admit it to yourself."

As Beast Boy's voice droned on, the words became obscured by a roaring sound, like being sucked under whitewater rapids. Everything was building up to... something... and it terrified her. The empath scrambled for her center, only to find it completely out of reach.

She was helpless against whatever was coming.

When the dam broke, it brought far more than the silent tears she had occasionally shed in private. Ugly, undignified sobs ripped their way out of her throat, leaving burning trails on their way up from her chest. Holding them back only caused her more pain, and was ultimately futile. Random memories and feelings flashed through her mind; some made perfect sense in this situation, while others had no logical connection. And through it all, a gentle hand stroked her back, strong arms held her face to a chest that smelled faintly of sweat and something else not unpleasant, and that gravelly voice crooned wordless comfort to her as she wept.

Raven had no idea how long they stayed in that position; she returned to herself after what could have been minutes or hours, feeling blessedly empty and light. She hadn't realized she had been carrying around such a weight until it had been lifted.

As she drew a deep, cleansing breath, that voice whispered in her ear once more. "Better?" His hands slowly left their position on her back, giving one last lingering brush before falling away and letting her pull back to see his face.

Lying there on her side facing him, there were a million things racing through her head, few of which made any real sense, so she simply nodded.

Out came that dazzling smile once again, and he rose from the bed. "Good. Sometimes you just need to let it all out."

Raven lay there, still a bit dazed. Out of reflex, she rebuilt her empathic shielding to ward off any unwelcome flare-ups. "I... I don't even know why I was crying, really. Some of it was logical, but there were so many unrelated thoughts and feelings surfacing. Most of them weren't even sad."

The changeling shrugged. "Yeah, that's how it happens when you bottle everything up. The littlest thing can set you off, and then you just... get rid of all of it at once."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "Speaking from experience?"

Beast Boy gave her a wry grin. "Eeeyup. The Doom Patrol isn't exactly a touchy-feely outfit. I went about three years without crying while I was with them, then the week after we got the Tower built, Robin set off the waterworks with just a couple words. They weren't even mean ones."

Raven contemplated prying a bit, but decided to leave the matter alone. "I see... thank you, Garfield."

The boy's eyes widened. "That's the first time you've called me by my real name since the week you guys first heard it."

The empath felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. For once, she didn't fight it. "What can I say? As much as I said I'd get a lot of mileage from it, it just... fits you. It'd be strange on anyone else, but for you, it works."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Why don't you use it more, then?"

Raven shrugged, a gesture she'd picked up largely from him. "Force of habit. I don't have a civilian name, really, so it's not all that natural for me to call you by yours."

Garfield nodded, accepting the answer. As he was about to speak, though, Raven was overcome with an inexplicable need to convey her gratitude to him. In a flash, she was on her feet and hugging him.

She felt his spike of shock, then warm contentment. His arms wrapped around her once more, and it felt... good.

A wild urge struck her, and before she could reconsider, she had already brushed her lips against a green cheek.

His gasp was audible, and if Raven's shield had been a bit weaker, something expensive would likely have exploded. Everything hung in a moment of suspended animation, then confusion rushed in to fill the vacuum, accompanied by a mix of emotions, honey-sweet and ringed with sharp glass.

"Rae, what...?"

"I..." The sorceress fumbled for words. "I wanted to thank you. I... we... you keep helping me accept myself, even when I don't want to, and... no one has ever done that for me. So I wanted to do something I'd never done, to show just how much it means to me." She stared at the ground, blushing, fighting the voice in her head that was screaming to pull her hood up and run away. "I'm sorry if I... if it... sorry."

A gloved hand tilted her chin up, and he stared at her, the apprehension in his gaze echoed a thousandfold in his emotional state. "Raven... I'm scared to ask this, but now I kind of have to. How..." He swallowed hard. "How do you feel about me?"

Raven stared at him wide-eyed and unblinking, certain she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "I don't know," she mumbled after several small eternities. "That's the simple answer, I suppose. As much as I may tease or belittle you, I know there's far more to you than people see on the surface. I like that, in a way; it means I'm lucky. I get to... see something special. And you are." She turned her face away, unable to hold his gaze, and his hand fell to his side. "There's no one else in this whole world who drives me as absolutely crazy as you do, and deep down, I wouldn't have it any other way. You're also one of a very few reasons I stayed on Earth after we defeated my father... and you're my best friend, Garfield."

Silence hung between them, heady with the expectation of something just a bit more. Raven reached for it, but no words would come. She had no clue what they would even be if she could find them.

A deep sigh rushed through the young man before her, and a dull, twisting ache in his soul was covered over with consolation as quickly as it appeared. He took her in his arms once more, one hand behind her head to press it into his chest.

His heart beat so strongly, pounding at his ribcage with every pulse as though trying to escape. It seemed fitting somehow, for a personality such as his.

"I'll always be your friend, Raven." Even with her ear smashed against his torso, Raven could hear the distress he was doing a horrible job of hiding.

Part of her wanted to add to her previous statements, to do anything it took to alleviate that pain in Garfield's heart, but she couldn't bring herself to speak.

He was always better to her than she was to him; it was how they functioned. A poor excuse, certainly, but saying too little was far better than giving him what might turn out to be false hope.

When he pulled away, she felt... bereft. Still, she said nothing.

Beast Boy stood there, raw, exposed, a throbbing mass of hurt, until he looked down and shook his head once. As if by magic, the painful emotions were gone, and in their place was a mask of cheeriness with a touch of cheek. And when he looked up, that smile she had once thought genuine was painted back on his face.

"Well, Rae," he said, "I've got a surprise for you, but first you have to close your eyes."

Despite the guilt chewing at her stomach, Raven complied. A few moments passed in silence, and just as Raven was about to crack an eyelid, a hand pulled gently on one of hers, and a weight pressed into her palm.

"All right. Open 'em."

She was holding a book, leather-bound, black with gold leaf. Raven recognized it as the tome Beast Boy had been holding in the market. As she scanned the title, her breath caught in her throat.

"_Ars Magica_," she whispered. "Garfield, this is the third volume of the collected works of Jason Blood and Etrigan. People have been trying for centuries to destroy every copy of this book in existence."

"Well," he said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish look, "I didn't know all that. I just remember seeing One, Two, and Four on your shelf that time I was digging through for something to read."

Raven chewed her lower lip. "Gar... you're too good to me."

"You deserve it, Rae."

In spite of herself, she raised an eyebrow. "You know it's only because we're having an extended 'moment' that I'm letting that name slide, right?"

His fang gleamed, highlighted in a lopsided smirk. "Kinda figured. Better get some miles out of it while I can, huh?"

Seizing him in another hug, Raven whispered in his ear, "Thank you, Gar. Thank you so much... for everything."

When she released him, she placed the book on her bed, then turned to him.

"Ready to head back to the market, Rae?"

She almost smiled, but managed to suppress the urge. Only the barest ripple in her lips betrayed her. "Moment's over. Call me Raven." With that, she enveloped them both in her dark energy and carried them back to Sant Antoni.

—

**AN:** The damage from the void when Raven teleports is inspired by Silently Watches' work, though I've made it much less brutal here. Also, as you can see, the character interactions here aren't all that balanced. Robin and Starfire are an ordeal at best for me to write, whereas Beast Boy and Raven can talk for hours in my head faster than I can record what they're saying. I'll try to balance things out a bit, but this story is definitely centered around my two favorites.

I wonder... where did Beast Boy put that book? He didn't have it in his hands when he was hanging off of Raven going Mach Five through spacetime...

That book market in Barcelona does exist, though I doubt there's an old crone hawking ancient magical texts anywhere in the market.

Next chapter, we'll be getting a little more fluff, then back to the action!


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **A little more fluff, then it's back to the action. Who's behind all of this madness, anyway?

**Disclaimer:** No sóc amo dels Teen Titans, i jo no faig diners amb això.

**CHAPTER 5**

Having conveyed her gratitude to the elderly shopkeeper and her granddaughter, Raven said her goodbyes and allowed Beast Boy to lead her once more on a winding journey through the streets of Barcelona. They traveled for another ten minutes or so, sharing a companionable silence punctuated by observations in a gravelly tenor, before coming to a halt in front of a small cafe.

"So, Raven," he began, a hand on her arm, "This place is vegetarian, but it's supposed to be great even for people who like meat. I know you've said you don't do the whole vegetarian thing, but... Can we please try it?"

Just as she was about to open her mouth, a wicked thought occurred to her. "You know this means you'll owe me," she said, trying as hard as she could to keep her expression neutral.

The green boy grimaced, tugging at his right earlobe. After a moment, he acquiesced. "Sure."

Nodding, Raven gestured for him to lead the way.

The cafe was sparsely but lovingly decorated, earth tones abounding. The waiter's eyes widened at the pair, but he quickly composed himself and greeted them in stumbling English, inviting them to take a seat anywhere. The two of them chose a small table in the corner, Garfield tucking himself into the space with a clear view of the entire room. She knew he felt most relaxed with his back to a wall, and it didn't much matter to her; it was all but impossible to sneak up on an empath.

Thirty minutes later, Beast Boy was sampling his first order of authentic Spanish tombet, while Raven had opted for palak paneer. As the comforting aroma hit her nostrils, she couldn't help a smile. "Palak paneer is one of my favorite foods," she said, the fork nearly at her mouth. "It was one of the few Earth dishes my mother could successfully replicate on Azarath, and cooking it always made her happy. Whenever our house smelled like palak paneer, it felt like good memories being relived."

Beast Boy had frozen mid-chew, a mouthful of red peppers and eggplant hanging from his gaping mouth.

"That's not a very charming look, Garfield," Raven said, then took her first bite. The flavor of one of her few happy childhood memories hit her as her teammate's confusion swirled around her. It was a heavenly combination.

After a loud gulp and a moment of sputtering, Garfield regained the ability to form words. "But you... what... you said you don't like vegetarian food!"

The sorceress smirked. "I never said that. The most I've ever said is that I don't eat fake meat. You just made a false assumption. And that means you still owe me."

"I... uh..." Beast Boy deflated, but there was a tiny smile on his face. "You got me good, Rae. So what do I owe you?"

She noted the nickname, but chose to let it pass without remark this time. "I know you have Jump's vegetarian cuisine down to a science. When we get back, you're taking me out for palak paneer."

For the second time, the changeling's jaw dropped. His emotions thrashed around her, confusion and hope and a myriad of other traces. "Are you asking me on a date, Raven?"

The empath's eyes bulged as the implications of her own words hit her. "No!" She shouted, more out of surprise than anything else, and instantly regretted it as his emotions snapped and turned into jagged shards of self-loathing.

"Heh, yeah. Kinda figured," he said, and she could feel an odd burning sensation as his emotions dulled, like wounds being cauterized. "It just... from the wording... had to make sure, y'know?"

"Gar, I..." she began, but her words were cut off as their communicators went off in unison. Before they could even reach the devices where they lay on the table, Robin's voice came through in stereo along with the static of rushing wind.

"Titans! Trouble in Parc de la Ciutadella! Starfire and I are in pursuit of the same criminals from this morning. Raven, locate Cyborg and Beast Boy, then teleport to our location. We'll need everyone for this."

Within seconds, Beast Boy had opened a compartment on his belt and fished out a pair of 20-Euro notes. Slapping them on the table, he fiddled with his communicator. "Got a lock on Cy. Ready when you are, Raven."

The empath chewed her lip. "Garfield, about us..."

The green boy flashed her that smile that hurt so badly. "It's okay. Really. Let's go kick some butt."

In a matter of seconds, they had Cyborg in tow and were hurtling once more through the nothingness between dimensions. They emerged twenty feet in the air to avoid civilians, and were nearly vaporized in a crossfire of energy weapons and starbolts. Only a protective bubble from Raven saved their lives.

The three villains from earlier were focusing their attacks on Starfire, and the combined assault had taken a visible toll on the princess. Dark brown burn marks ran along her sides like a tiger's stripes, evidence of too-near misses and some grazes. The girl bobbed in the air, exhausted from flight but unwilling to return to the ground and risk civilians behind her being hit. She continued to launch starbolts at her attackers, though they came more slowly than usual, as though formed with great effort.

Incensed at the sight of her friend's injuries, Raven formed a spear of black energy and plunged it through the nearest assailant's dominant shoulder, causing the rifle he held to drop to the ground. The criminal made no sound, though, and in place of a gushing wound, there was a sparking mess of electronics. "They're robots!" Cyborg yelled. Having fought all manner of mechanical enemies before, they adjusted their strategy without a word.

Freed of the Titans' restriction on lethal force, the fight was no-holds-barred.

Beast Boy tapped Raven's shoulder and nodded. Without a word, the sorceress floated them directly over one of the attackers and ejected the shapeshifter from the bubble. In the split second before he hit the ground, he gained well over five tons in mass, and the foot of an African elephant landed directly on the damaged robot, removing it from the fight permanently. The other two whirled to face him, only to be held in place by a pair of black talons as bursts of green and blue removed their heads. The smoking machinery toppled over and lay still.

The glow surrounding Starfire's hands faded, and her eyes rolled up and closed as she plummeted to the ground. Beast Boy was underneath her in an instant, a green gorilla catching her as gently as could be expected with a three-story fall.

Cyborg and Raven floated down to join them, the half-demon's eyes already glowing as she scanned her friend's body for injuries. Apart from the burns and exhaustion, the Tamaranean was just fine, and the former were rapidly fading as Raven absorbed the pain into herself.

When the healing was done, Beast Boy laid Starfire on a nearby patch of grass alongside a pond. The redhead's face contorted in distress, and she mumbled in Tamaranean. The only word they recognized was "Robin".

"Speaking of whom," Raven remarked, "Where did our fearless leader run off to this time?"

Shifting to a bloodhound, Garfield sniffed the air. He stiffened, then reverted to his human form. "Slade," he whispered.

—

**AN:** I know Slade is an overdone villain, but really, he's the only one from the cartoon not chilling out long-term in France, and this story will tie in with his appearance in the final episode.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em. Don't sue.

**CHAPTER 6**

They found Robin in an alleyway, unconscious and bleeding. Cyborg considered it a small mercy that Starfire had still not regained consciousness; the Tamaranean would undoubtedly have been distraught over seeing the Boy Wonder in such a state.

A black bird's ethereal wings encircled the battered group, and a moment later, they were back in their hotel room, Robin slipping from a cradle of dark energy to rest upon the bed. Cyborg gingerly laid the princess beside him, hoping not to wake her.

As Raven placed a hand on Robin's chest, she sighed and gritted her teeth, and Cyborg winced in sympathy. He was one of the two people on the team whom Raven had told of her healing ability's side effects; she had made both him and Starfire promise never to tell Robin or Beast Boy, knowing their shared tendency to hide injuries and self-medicate.

The bruises disappeared from their leader's body, his cuts closing and disappearing without so much as a scar. As if on cue, his eyes snapped open behind the mask and he sat upright with a shout.

"Slade! Where's Slade?" His chest heaved as he pushed away Beast Boy's proffered hand and stood. Eyes darting around the room, he sought some clue as to the villain's whereabouts.

"He's gone, Robin," Cyborg said, holding his hands up palm-down in a placating gesture. "We're back at the hotel. Once Starfire comes to, we can—"

"What?" The masked teen shouted, hands balling into fists. "You let him get away? You idiots! He's _got_ to be the one behind the superweapon!"

"Whoa there, Rob," Cyborg said, "Slade was already long gone by the time we found you."

Batman's protege glared. "If you followed my trail, you could easily have followed his."

"And done what, exactly?" Beast Boy asked, arms crossed. His fingers were tightening on his biceps with bruising force. "Leave you and Starfire behind and pray he didn't double back and kill or kidnap you both? Carry you with us so we could have two liabilities in a fight with someone we've never beaten even at full strength?"

"You could have split up," the black-haired teen began, but Beast Boy cut him off.

"Yeah, and then it's either me and Cy— or just one of us— against Slade. I appreciate the vote of confidence, Rob, but that's insane."

Robin's eyes darted. "Raven could have—"

"Raven," the young woman in question drawled, "Was already exhausted from multiple teleports and healing injuries to Starfire, injuries she sustained when her '_leader_' left her to fight off three criminals with advanced weaponry _by herself_. You might want to stop talking now."

The air hung heavy with animosity, and sensing that something was about to shatter irreparably, Cyborg interjected to keep the peace. "Look, let's just wait until Starfire wakes up, and then we'll talk this over, okay?"

A green-gloved finger waved inches from Victor's face. "This discussion is _not_ over until I say so. Or did you forget who's leading this team?"

"Right now, _no one's_ leading this team!" the half-robot shouted, patience finally failing. "And you know what? As soon as Starfire wakes up, we're going to decide who _should_!"

With the mention of her name, the alien's eyelids had begun fluttering, and they snapped open at Victor's final word. "Please, friends," she murmured, "What has happened? Why is everyone doing the shouting?"

The tension in the room dissipated ever so slightly, and both Robin and Cyborg turned to address her at once. They talked over each other, growing ever louder, until two words drowned them out.

"SHUT UP!" Raven howled with all the fury of Perdition, the room rumbling with the force of her words. When silence had fallen, she collected herself with a deep breath. "Now. How are you feeling, Starfire?"

The Tamaranean favored her with a shaky smile. "Truthfully, I have been much better, Friend Raven. I am in pain and confused, and I do not understand what has happened to make my friends scream and use the unkind words with each other."

As both boys opened their mouths to state their cases, black energy covered their mouths. "Not. A. Word," Raven growled. Her eyes bored into Victor's, and he dropped his gaze, noting with a bit of childish satisfaction that Robin had done the same. "Starfire, you remember the fight with the robots, correct?"

She nodded. "I remember everything until I lost consciousness."

"Then you remember Robin leaving to chase Slade?"

A gasp confirmed Victor's suspicions. "Slade has returned? I heard Robin exclaim that someone had a canine for a mother, but when I looked for him, he was nowhere to be seen."

Beast Boy, who had remained silent until now, looked at Robin with utter disappointment. "You didn't even tell her it was Slade?"

Robin crossed his arms. "What difference does that make?"

The changeling's arms fell to his sides, and his fists clenched. "The _difference_," he said slowly, a struggle to control his temper evident in his voice, "Is that Slade works with _robots_, not _people_. Starfire was using non-lethal tactics, and because of that, she sustained multiple injuries in a fight that could have been over in a few seconds. But you didn't _see fit_ to tell her anything, and you ran off and abandoned your teammate, just like you do every time Slade shows up."

"I've heard enough," Cyborg said in a voice as hard as his surname. "It's time for the Titans to have a new leader."

A snort came from Robin. "Oh, really? And I assume you want the spot? Hate to break it to you, but that's not happening."

Victor gave a bitter smile. "Wasn't what I had in mind. Unlike you, I care about the team more than my fragile little ego." His arm snaked out to grab hold of a purple shirt and pull its owner close. "Beast Boy should be leading the Titans."

As Cyborg stood there, hands on his best friend's shoulders, the stunned silence was shattered by a squeak. "Me?"

—

**AN:** Herein lies the Schism. Also, going by a word-count-to-review ratio, this may be my least-reviewed story, which generally means an author is doing something wrong. I see follows, but no reviews. Am I becoming a pulp writer?

I'm never going to hold this story hostage for reviews; that's just childish. Still, some feedback as to what you like and/or dislike (either is welcome) would help me improve this story greatly. Qoheleth's review sparked changes to chapters I had already considered finished, so please don't think you don't have a say in forming this story.

As always, thank you for reading! Also, just to warn you, this is the last chapter till the end that stops at a point that won't make you want to murder me.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

"You want _Beast Boy_ to be the team leader?" Robin's voice was incredulous. "You're joking, right?"

"Uhh, what he said," Beast Boy mumbled from his spot beneath Cyborg's chin. "Also, way to boost my self-esteem, Rob."

"Think about it," Victor insisted. "Who led a team made up of people he'd barely even met before into a fight with basically every bad guy we've ever faced, and won?"

"Sheer dumb luck," Robin grated. "Emphasis on the dumb."

"Hold up," Gar said, face going hard, "You know exactly _squat _about that mission; you were an ice cube, in case you forgot. Do you really think I could spend years as part of the Doom Patrol and not learn a thing or two? I _know_ how to lead a team, Robin." He sighed. "And more importantly, I know that there's no way I want that kind of responsibility on my shoulders."

Cyborg began waving his hands in the air, gesticulating wildly. "And that's precisely why you'd be a better leader than a power-mad traffic light!"

Starfire's eyes glowed with fury. "Robin has _always _done what is best for the team! You have no right to accuse him of—"

"Red X." Raven's comment was quiet, but it drew silence and four stares. Shrugging, she crossed her arms. "If we're going to have this discussion, we might as well have all the facts out there. I'll agree that Robin is a good leader in most circumstances, but when he thinks he knows better, he keeps us in the dark and sabotages the team. Apparently he has yet to learn his lesson, and at this point I'm not certain he ever will."

Robin looked down, chewing on his lip. Raven's words had struck home for more reasons than she might have suspected.

Turning toward Garfield, the spellcaster continued. "Beast Boy is inexperienced as a leader. He's often immature—"

"Hey now—"

"What's the medical name for the tailbone?" she asked.

The green boy giggled. "Coccyx."

"My point exactly." Robin thought he saw the hint of a smile in the empath's eyes, but it was gone before he could be sure. "As I was saying, he's often immature, but when it counts, he takes this job just as seriously as any of us. I have no doubt he'd be a good leader. A better leader than Robin? That's hard to say, but it's possible."

The uncomfortable silence stretched until Beast Boy chose to break it. "Hey, uh, don't _I_ get a vote as to whether or not I'm gonna be the leader?"

"Yes." Robin's face was set in a grim line. "Each of us does." He unzipped a compartment on his suitcase and produced five pens and notepads. "I was going to use these in an observational training exercise for the team, but now it looks like they'll serve another purpose. Each of us will write down who we think should lead this team, and then we'll show them once everyone is done. No chance for the initial trend to influence the final results."

Beast Boy scratched his head. "Uh, shouldn't we be, y'know, putting them in a hat or something? Isn't that how this goes?"

"We all know each other's handwriting anyway, even if we try to disguise it," Cyborg said. "Besides, I'm interested in knowing the reasoning behind each person's vote."

Pen and paper was distributed in somber silence, which was then broken only by the scratching of ball points.

Coughing, Beast Boy passed his notepad face-down to Raven. "Here y'go, Rae..." His eyes darted around. "...Ven. I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick. Too much excitement. No need to wait up for me; just tell me who's the boss when I get back."

Robin raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as the shapeshifter left the room.

"All right," Cyborg said after a small eternity of silence. "Moment of truth. Let's read 'em. We'll do Beast Boy's last so he can explain his thinking when he's done." He laid his notepad on the bed for everyone to see. "No secret here: Beast Boy's my choice. You already heard my reasons."

Starfire followed suit. "Robin is our leader, and I still believe he acts with the best intentions of the team in mind. On Tamaran, a leader who is still capable of performing his duties can be removed only in circumstances of extreme and deliberate betrayal of those under his command. Do not think that because you saw my sister lose the throne without bloodshed, Tamaran views its rulers as interchangeable; that was the first time in five generations that a coup has been successfully conducted, and even then, only because her treachery was immediately made public. Friend Beast Boy might do well if given the opportunity, but I believe that until the day that Robin truly and willingly betrays us, he should remain in command."

Robin threw his down, taking a moment to enjoy the surprised looks his choice garnered before he steeled himself for a difficult confession. "Look, I know I get... carried away sometimes. Starfire's right that I really do have the team's best interests in mind, but my intentions don't matter as much as the results. And no matter how hard I try to avoid it, I guess I'll always think I know best... just like Batman always did." Bringing his eyes to meet each of his teammates' in turn, he continued. "Beyond that, though... I'm scared, guys. Despite our falling out, I still consider Batman my father, and most of the core members of the Justice League have been like family to me since before there _was_ a Justice League." He swallowed hard, supporting his heavy head on the knuckles of a clenched fist. "I lost my whole family once before Batman... I _can't_ let that happen ever again." With a deep breath, he looked back up, glad that the lenses of his mask hid how close he was to tears. "So now you know why I've been going off the deep end, making dumb mistakes, saying things I don't really mean. For what it's worth, I'm sorry. I've been unfair to all of you, especially Beast Boy. He's got the potential to be a great leader, and if you guys think he's better for the team, I'll stand behind him and give him any support I can."

With no fanfare, Raven placed her notepad alongside the others. "This team has a delicate balance: each of us serves a purpose, not only in combat, but in our day to day life. Beast Boy keeps us smiling, even when it's the last thing we want to do... and as a leader, he can't do that as effectively. Beyond that, though, I know that if Beast Boy really thought he was the best choice for the team, he would sacrifice his own happiness for us. But despite everything," she said, "He believes in Robin." She tossed the shapeshifter's pad onto the bed. The messy scrawl was unmistakable. "Before you ask, yes, I peeked to be sure I was siding with Beast Boy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hunt him down and let him know he can relax. It shouldn't take more than an hour or two to talk him into coming back."

Cyborg cocked his head to the side. "From the bathroom?"

An arched eyebrow from the empath corrected his assumption. "You really thought he was going to the bathroom? He left the hotel as fast as he could."

—

Beast Boy wasn't exactly sure where he was, but he knew it was fairly far off from their hotel, which was precisely his goal at the moment. Trotting along the alleyways of Barcelona's Old City as a cat, he attracted very little attention from the passerby; his unusual hue went unnoticed as long as he kept to the shadows.

Just as he was about to round another corner, the fur on his scruff stood straight up as his body began to tingle. There was magic nearby, which meant...

"Get lost on the way to the bathroom?" a smoky voice called out from behind him.

With a squawk of distress, he took off as fast as his feline legs would carry him... which wasn't very fast, given the black energy that encased them and bound them together.

"Gar," Raven said as he floated back towards her, hanging upside down like a hog destined for the fire pit, "You should know by now that there's no use in running from your responsibilities... and especially not from me."

The changeling reverted to his normal form and gulped. "Speaking of responsibilities..." he managed to croak. The blood rushing to his head was giving him the beginnings of a headache, but his heart was pounding for more reasons than that.

"They haven't changed," she said with a gentle smile. "Madness, bad puns, general mayhem, pranking Robin when he deserves it... and pulling me out of my room every now and then."

Beast Boy let out a sigh of relief, not caring for the moment that he was still hanging upside down. Although... "Uh, Raven? Why are you still holding me like this?"

"Because I seem to remember a conversation in the restaurant we didn't get to finish," she said with a determined glint in her eye. "Either you agree that we'll talk about it right now, or I keep you dangling there until the issue is resolved."

"As far as I know, it's pretty simple, Rae," he said, patience wearing thin from the stress and the gravity-induced headache. "I like you, and you don't like me like that. Guess which one wins?"

He was caught unawares when the world turned upright again in a split second, and he collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"You're giving up, just like that?" Raven's voice was full of tones that confused him. "Never once in the entire time I've known you have you given up that easily on _anything_, Gar." From his vantage point, the petite girl made for an intimidating figure as she shoved her finger in his face. "I _told_ you, I don't _know_ how I feel about you. I'm an emotionally constipated half-demon with a huge problem differentiating between my own feelings and everyone else's. All I know is that you make me feel _something_ that's coming entirely from me, and I—"

Raven's words were cut short with a sharp, gurgling gasp as the blade of a katana exploded out of her chest. It was withdrawn with a vicious twist, and the empath dropped wide-eyed to the ground. In the space where she had once stood, a familiar figure in a two-toned mask loomed.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt something?"

**AN: **I warned you. There's not going to be another pretty picture at the end of a chapter till we're done or mostly done... also, I have yet to finish writing this story.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, but most especially to RabulaTasa, who reminded me that Robin was being dense even in light of Slade. I've done a bit more digging into his motivations here; hopefully this helps to balance things a bit.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I own zilch, and my last day of work before I move to Russia was this past Saturday, so I'm not making any money doing anything, much less writing fanfiction.

**CHAPTER 8**

Beast Boy watched in horror as Raven twitched on the ground, a puddle rapidly spreading along the cracks in the cobblestones. Slade stood by, impassive, blood dripping from his katana.

It was a scene pulled straight from Garfield's worst nightmares. It couldn't possibly be happening. There was no way.

When Slade knelt down and wiped his blade on Raven's cloak, Beast Boy knew it was real. He couldn't even have imagined such callousness.

With a scream that quickly became a primal roar, he morphed into a lion and launched himself at the villain, only to be repelled by a barrier of yellow energy that crackled around Slade's body. Garfield stumbled backwards, knuckles to the pavement in a runner's stance, and leapt forward as a wolf. Again he was tossed back, falling in a heap just a few feet from Raven.

"You can waste your time trying to get through the shield, Beast Boy," the oily voice remarked with an air of nonchalance, "But if Raven means that much to you, I'd imagine now would be the time to say your goodbyes. Your little witch is currently drowning in her own blood. Unpleasant way to die... frightening, too. I'd imagine she's too scared to use those healing powers of hers."

Sure enough, a glance back at Raven showed her thrashing, eyes wide as her mouth worked to form words. "G-guh..." was all that could escape her lips.

"She's calling for you, _Garfield_," the older man said. "I'll give you two lovebirds some privacy. When you're finished, come visit me at the Sagrada Familia church. If you're not there in half an hour, I'll have to assume you're up to something. You _don't_ want that." As he turned to leave, the assassin shot one last remark over his shoulder. "Oh, and come alone, without your communicator; if you contact any of the other Titans, I'll set off the bombs I took the liberty of planting in your hotel room." With that, Slade sauntered off, fading into the darkness with each step.

Dropping to his knees, Beast Boy immediately stripped off his shirt and pressed it to the hole in Raven's chest, any thought of propriety miles away. He had to slow the bleeding enough, had to calm her down.

"G-Gar..." she choked.

"Shh, shh, don't talk, Rae, just focus. You've gotta concentrate and heal this."

"Can't," came the reply. "Sc-a-ared." The sorceress, even paler now, was clutching feebly at his shoulder, but even that proved too difficult, and her hand fell to the rough pavement once more.

Her heartbeat was slowing beneath his hands. There was no time left.

With a deep breath and a plea to whoever might be listening, Garfield went Away.

—

When Raven opened her eyes, all she saw was green. It bathed the blackness, illuminating blurry shapes with an otherwordly light. The color was comforting somehow, but she couldn't recall exactly why. A smile with a deadly fang, a voice on the cusp of manhood, a presence both uninvited and necessary as breathing... it was all connected to that shade of green. As her vision swam into focus, she found a horde of creatures staring at her: from gigantic to microscopic but still somehow visible, all manner of beast—

Beast Boy! This green, these animals, they were connected to Beast Boy somehow!

"Rae?" a scratchy voice sounded from behind her. In an instant, she was engulfed in a familiar embrace. "Oh god, I'm so glad it worked!" he exclaimed. "You're not dead!"

"Dead?" Raven echoed, too shocked to return the gesture. "Why would I be..."

Violent flashes slammed into her, sound and sight and pain and memories of fear, of darkness, of fading away. She had been dying, unable to harness her powers to heal herself.

"What happened, Gar?" she whispered. "What is this place?"

There was a loud sniffle in her ear, and the sound of a sleeve being dragged across a face. When he pulled away to look her in the eye, she noted certain oddities in his appearance. His ears were not quite so pointed, his protruding fang not as prominent. His hands were bare, normal fingers that occasionally flickered to include pointed claws instead of well-trimmed fingernails. "You were bleeding out," he said, trying to blink the last of his tears away. "I didn't have a choice. I brought you... well... I just call this place Away. It's where I go to get the animals."

Raven nodded, unsure of what else to do. "You look... different," she remarked, hoping he would catch her hint and explain.

"Yeah," he said, hand tugging at his hair, and for a moment, he flickered entirely into the Beast Boy she recognized. "This place shows everything the way it's supposed to be. The Plutonium Ideal of each animal, y'know?"

"Platonic," she corrected automatically.

"I dunno," he replied, not missing a beat. "Around springtime, these guys can get pretty horn— uh, I mean... what?" He trailed off, looking down as one hand scratched at his head.

"The Platonic Ideal. As in from Plato, the philosopher," she said. "Everything has a perfect, ideal form that allows us to perceive and interpret what we see in our reality according to that form."

The changeling winced. "Yeah, that one."

"That much makes sense... but why do you look different, and why do you keep flickering like that?"

Another embarrassed smile, and he reverted to his more human-looking appearance. "I still haven't really gotten used to the whole looking like a vampire elf thing. As much as I may say chicks dig the ears, I really don't." He hung his head, and she was surprisingly disappointed not to see drooping ears. "I don't see how I look now as how I should be. Then again, you're one to talk," he said, pointing at her.

Raven hazarded a quick glance at the parts of herself that she could see, and nearly screamed. Trigon's sigils snaked along her arms, but they were muted, and like Garfield's more human appearance, they flickered in and out of being along with a set of impossibly slender fingers with claws at the tips.

Hyperventilating, the sorceress turned away from her friend, unwilling to let him see her this way. She hid her face in her hands... and gasped as her fingers ran into a pair of horns.

That was when she screamed in earnest. A wind rushed through the emptiness, howling and whipping the animals into a frenzy.

In a flash, Garfield was beside her, murmuring reassurance in her ear. "It's okay, Rae. It's part of who you are and how you see yourself. It doesn't mean you're losing control or anything bad. It's just your self-image." He tilted her face up toward his. Was he taller in real life, or just here? "Besides, in a really... exotic, bad-girl kind of way, it's kinda... hot."

Heat filled her face, and she suddenly became aware of just how close their lips were. It would take only a few inches more to bring them together.

No sooner had the thought occurred to her than the green boy dropped his hands to his sides and took a few steps back, coughing nervously. "Uh, anyway, this place can be used as sort of a storage area sometimes. I haven't quite figured out what I can and can't keep here, but I know it worked with that book from earlier, and you seem to be doing okay."

"So then, I'm healed?" Raven asked. "Just like that?"

"No, no, no," he interjected, waving his hands. "I don't automatically recover from injuries every time I turn into another animal, so I'm pretty sure that's not how it's going to work for you. If I took you back right now, you'd be dead in a few seconds. The pain and damage might not exist in here, but it'll all be back as soon as you're out in the real world again. That's why you're going to need to be as focused as possible when you get out there." He gestured upward, and for the first time, Raven noticed that the "sky" was an abstract view of cobblestones and tall buildings.

"Right now I'm a bunch of amino acid goo, lying in a puddle of your blood," he said. "Not exactly the sexiest thing ever, but that's what happens when I stay in Away. When I get out there, the view will change a bit, and you'll see what I see." Shifting from one foot to the other, he summoned the courage to take her hand. "I have to go now; I don't have a whole lot of time left before Slade's deadline."

"No, Gar!" she cried. "You don't know what he's got planned for you."

The little green shapeshifter gave her a smile that spoke of wartime and sacrifice. "Nope. But I do know what he's got planned for the others if I don't go. I have to do it, Rae. No matter what you see and hear out there, you have to meditate and get focused enough to heal yourself. I'll come back for you as soon as I can." He pulled her into a hug, and she felt lips brush her forehead just above her chakra stone. Then he was gone.

–

**AN:** The concept of Away comes from Kryalla Orchid— specifically, Locked Hearts. She gave me permission to borrow it, so I'll be running with it in a direction that suits my purposes and also hopefully ties it in with some comic lore. Also, thanks to Bob (who reviewed as a guest, but left some awesome pointers), I've redone a couple of finer details in the earlier chapters. I've been getting some of the best constructive criticism I've ever received on a story here, and I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:** The natives are strangely quiet... let's give y'all something to talk about.

**Warnings:** This one's horrific. You've been warned. Also, if you're trying to escape a cliffhanger, I suggest you wait.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Titans, Slade, or any of the horrible tortures being used in this chapter.

**CHAPTER 9**

Garfield Logan hadn't set foot in a church for quite some time, but if he had to break the cycle, the Sagrada Familia was an impressive way to do so.

Honeycomb spires stretched hundreds of feet into the air, made all the more imposing by the low-hanging sun behind them. He couldn't help but be reminded of some fantasy hero storming the castle for the final battle against good and evil.

The only problem was, he was fairly sure evil had this fight in the bag.

Taped to the inside of the ticket window was a note in Spanish, Catalan, and English, saying that the church had closed early for emergency repairs. Beast Boy hoped Slade had bought the time for their confrontation with bribes in lieu of blood, but he couldn't rule out either.

He circled the building twice as a hawk, alighting wherever afforded him a view of the interior. The graven saints continued their vigil, impassive. Nothing he could see looked out of the ordinary, which meant that Slade was definitely waiting for him. The assassin was sure to have planned for any entrance the shapeshifter chose to take, so he decided on the route that meant the least damage to the church.

The front door was locked, of course. Neither of them could be kept out by something so trivial, but it discouraged interruptions. Garfield permitted himself a grim smile at the sign insisting that appropriate attire be worn in the church; his shirt was still lying in that alleyway, soaked through with Raven's blood. Shifting into a cockroach for maximum protection from any booby traps Slade had planned, he wriggled his way through a tiny opening beneath the door.

Once inside, Beast Boy took a moment to appreciate the church's splendor even as he searched for his enemy. Massive columns stretched up into seeming infinity, hybrids between traditional architectural forms and designs found in nature. What was most impressive, however, was the lighting. Sunlight filtered in from every possible nook and alcove, bathing the entire sanctuary. Ahead, the stained glass windows transmuted the falling sun's rays into a masterpiece of color, and even so late in the day, the altar and giant crucifix were highlighted in radiant splendor.

Awed as he was by such grandeur, Garfield did not miss the whistling sound approaching fast from behind his left shoulder. Diving to the right and coming up facing the direction of the attack, he saw a figure emerge from the shadows.

"Good," the assassin said, voice echoing in the vast hall, "I'd hate for it to have been that simple after all the trouble I've gone to for you."

"Slade!" he snarled, hands balling into fists.

The masked man rolled his single eye. "Is it really too much to ask that just once, you Titans start with something more imaginative than my name?" A hand came to rest on his hip. "Then again, considering that I murdered your pet demon no more than half an hour ago, we'll let your lack of conversational prowess slide for the time being."

Slade didn't know that Raven had survived. Garfield filed the information away and reacted as the assassin would expect him to behave. "Take off that shield so I can tear you limb from limb, Slade," he growled.

"Very well," the man replied, removing a device from his belt and setting it aside. "Oh, and just to make this more of a fair fight, I won't use any weapons." The katana dropped to the ground, as did the bo staff.

Without hesitation, Beast Boy shifted into a cheetah and launched himself at the man, knowing he would be thrown using his own momentum. Just as Slade was about to send him flying, he morphed into _vipera aspis_ and wrapped himself around the assassin's arm. His fangs struck again and again, but couldn't find a weakness in his opponent's body armor. He was flung by his tail into one of the pews, where he reverted to his human form.

"Such willingness to kill," the sickly sweet voice taunted. "Perhaps I picked the wrong apprentice."

Beast Boy spat blood and stood to his feet once more. "Spanish hospitals stock antivenin for the Asp Viper, and only four percent of untreated bites are fatal anyway. If I were trying to kill you, I'd have been a black mamba." He leapt over the benches and began circling Slade, waiting for his next move. A breath later, the taller man was launching a barrage of punches and kicks, and Garfield turned into a gorilla in order to block the ferocity of the attacks. When he saw an opportunity, he seized the assassin in a bear hug, hoping to crack Slade's ribs and disable him.

Sharp pain flared in Beast Boy's arm, and he looked down to find a syringe, plunger fully depressed, sticking from his bicep.

His vision swam, and the last thing he heard was Slade's voice. "Sweet dreams, little boy."

—

When Beast Boy awoke, it was to a crushing weight around his throat and a horrible nausea. He was lying on his back, unable to move a single muscle below his neck, but a groan escaped unbidden.

"Ah, Beast Boy," Slade's voice echoed in his ears, "You're awake a bit earlier than expected; I suppose that unstable DNA of yours has some effect on the drugs in your system. I've administered a very special paralytic agent from my friend Professor Ivo. You'll find yourself unable to move most muscles, but speech and respiration won't be affected. Helpful man, the good Professor. Then again," he said, coming into view with a large empty syringe, "I am doing him quite a favor here."

"Favor?" Garfield asked, bewildered.

"Oh yes," the assassin said, leaning down into his victim's face. "I'm going to help him destroy the Justice League. And you, my dear boy, are going to help me."

"Like hell," he said, struggling to move his fingers, his toes, anything.

"I didn't say it was voluntary," snapped Slade. The syringe slammed into the vein in Beast Boy's forearm and began sucking viciously.

The assassin twisted and wrenched the needle around in the wound, shredding sensitive tissue as Garfield tried to bite back his screams.

After an eternity, the needle withdrew, and Slade held it up to his one good eye. "Well, I only got half of what I need from that side. I suppose phlebotomy isn't among my many skills. But you know what they say..." He positioned the needle at Beast Boy's other arm. "Practice makes perfect."

When it was over, Garfield lay panting, tears streaming down his face. He tried again, as he had for the last several minutes, to turn into something else, to reach for Away, but nothing happened. "Why can't I..." he murmured.

"Why can't you change?" Slade asked, a smirk in his voice. "That would be the magic of intergalactic slave trade technology. The Citadel are very effective at suppressing all sorts of powers with collars like the one you have around your neck; just ask your friend Starfire."

Panic raced through Beast Boy. With no powers and no way to move, he was completely helpless against whatever Slade had planned. "What are you going to do?" He asked, unable to keep the tremor from his voice.

"I've gotten all I need from you, really," the assassin said, holding up the syringe for emphasis. "Professor Ivo is convinced that your DNA is the key to completing the Amazo project, so that's all I'm being paid to obtain. Still, why stop there?" He disappeared for a moment, then returned to lift Beast Boy to a sitting position, propping him against a pew.

In Slade's hand was a newspaper from France with a picture of Beast Boy at the head of the Titans, just after they had defeated the Brotherhood of Evil. "In case you can't read French," he said in a mocking tone, "The headline is, 'Beast Boy, Savior of the Titans.'" The paper dropped from Slade's open hand. "Well, I'm going to break the Titans' so-called savior. I'm going to reduce you to nothing more than a quivering lump of flesh, and then I will leave you to die."

Slade strode away, and this time, Garfield was upright to see what he was doing. "It seems only fitting for the savior to be in the place of honor in this church, don't you think?" the voice echoed back to him. The assassin lifted something from the ground to stand beside him.

It was a wooden cross, as tall as Slade.

After a moment, Slade let the cross drop back to rest on the ground once more, and headed toward Beast Boy. Lifting the changeling in a fireman's carry, he dropped him in an unceremonious heap beside the cross. Taking one arm, he pulled Garfield into position, then produced a pair of railroad spikes and a mallet.

"Are you familiar with the process of crucifixion, Beast Boy?"

The boy shook his head, petrified.

"That's a shame. I suppose we'll just have to take our cues from the available reference, then," he said, gesturing to the icon above the altar. Kneeling by Garfield's right palm, he dug the railroad spike into the flesh. "It would appear this goes somewhere around..." With a vicious blow from the mallet, he exclaimed, "Here!"

Garfield's world turned into pure agony. Shredded nerves and broken bones screamed at his central nervous system to run, hide, anything to get away, but he remained immobile, helpless. With each stroke, he teetered on the brink of oblivion, willing himself to succumb, but he could not.

With the spike firmly driven in, Slade sat back to admire his handiwork. "That seems about right. And in case you haven't noticed, that collar has another handy feature: it will keep you conscious long past when you would normally have passed out from the pain. The Citadel truly are an ingenious race." With that, he set to work on the other hand.

Garfield lost track of time, and he emerged from the wormhole of agony incapable of anything more than quivering and whimpering.

"Now," said Slade, "Let's conduct a test to see if the artist was right." Lifting the cross to a vertical, he let Beast Boy hang from his hands.

There was a horrendous ripping sound, and Garfield was on the floor screaming once more, two gaping holes in his palms.

"I suspected as much," came the flippant observation. "We'll have to try a different spot. On the bright side, I brought extra nails."

Once more, Garfield was dragged to the cross, and once more his arms were spread wide. His palms were forced back over the heads of the spikes with a gut-twisting _squish_, and just as the pain was beginning to dull, agony exploded in his right forearm just below the wrist.

Slade took his time, and when he was done, the green boy was nailed to the cross in a near-kneeling position by his hands, bare feet, and forearms. Eyes rolling wildly, Garfield begged over and over for Slade to stop, knowing it was futile yet still incapable of halting his pleas.

His fingers and toes writhed; the paralysis was wearing off, but it was too late.

Masterpiece complete, Slade took a massive length of heavy chain and attached it to an anchor on the cross Beast Boy had not noticed before, repeating the process on the other side with a second chain. "I think this work of art should be on display, don't you?" he remarked, gesturing to the altar.

Beast Boy's head was swimming from pain and blood loss; he couldn't bring himself to reply.

A chain in each hand, Slade turned and dragged the cross like an unholy chariot toward the altar, and Garfield watched three lengthening streaks of blood mar the polished floor in the wooden frame's wake. The scraping vibrations transferred through the wood, and the boy shrieked with each lurching step.

An eternity later, they came to a halt. The chains rustled and rattled, and Beast Boy knew what was coming next, just as he knew he was powerless to stop it.

No amount of knowledge, though, could have prepared him for the agony that gripped him when the cross was hoisted into the air.

He dangled and swayed, shaking his head and howling in pain and rage, until his vision cleared and he saw Slade standing far below, arms crossed.

"An excellent copy, but it's missing something," the assassin's voice carried up to him. "The collar makes for an interesting crown of thorns, which means..." A throwing knife streaked toward Beast Boy and imbedded itself in his left side. "Now the scene is perfect."

Beast Boy convulsed, arms and legs spasming as his punctured lung began filling with blood. His hanging position made breathing all but impossible, and he struggled to make his limbs lift him up to draw a breath.

"It's a shame you won't live to see the progress your blood will bring," said the villain. "I suppose it's only fair to thank you by sending Professor Ivo's prototype to Jump City. Even unfinished, Amazo will have no trouble finishing off your friends when they return home to bury your corpse."

The words flowed over Beast Boy, slowly condensing into chunks of meaning, and a spike of panic set off another wave of struggles. Still, he remained silent. He couldn't waste his breath on a response, not when each lungful cost him so dearly.

"Well, little boy," Slade said from far below, "It's been a pleasure, but I really do have to be going. Give my regards to the rest of the Titans... not that you'll live long enough to see them." With that, he placed the syringe with Beast Boy's blood into a protective case, unbolted the main door of the church, and walked out, letting the door shut with a resounding boom.

Garfield fought to rise, pulled himself up again and again for desperate breaths, forcing himself to believe that if he held on for just a little longer, the Titans would come for him. As his vision dimmed, his thoughts wandered to purple hair, pale skin, and a rare but beautiful smile— Raven, trapped forever in Away. He had failed her.

"Rae..." he choked, and the rest of his apology drowned in his own blood.

—

**AN:** That's the last chapter I had completed when I started posting this, and unfortunately, the next chapter's only half done and has hit a snag. I apologize for leaving you all hanging (no pun intended... poor Gar), but a move to Siberia is tough to orchestrate, and I have less than two weeks left before I take off.


	10. Chapter 10

******AN:** Ever since it was the tiniest thought in my mind, this chapter's soundtrack has been Filthy Playground by Oomph!. Before you read, it's well worth taking the time to find it. If you like, you can input the standard url for Youtube, then add this: /watch?v=rQt2sRyHRp8 .

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Titans or profit from them; I'm just lucky enough to get to make them suffer.**

**CHAPTER 10**

The animals in Away clamored and milled about, and Raven was forced to dodge a veritable stampede of species even as she witnessed Garfield's suffering through his eyes.

She wept and screamed and raged, her powers adding to the impotent howl that whipped around the odd pocket dimension. As his heartbeat slowed, she sank to her knees.

Her name fell from his lips, and the world ground to a halt.

Only once before had Raven stopped the flow of time. It had not been enough to save her then, and she was painfully aware that it would do Beast Boy no good now. Still she held the universe in this suspended animation. If she let go, Garfield would be gone.

That was not an option.

The half-demon's soul reached through the void, searching for someone, anyone who would come to her aid. Something answered, the faintest ping of acknowledgement, and she grasped for it, dragging it desperately toward her.

A gray-haired man in brilliant green armor and a familiar mask materialized, perturbed but unafraid. Unlike her own appearance, his did not waver.

"Alan Scott," she whispered. "The Green Lantern."

The man in question gave a humorless smile. "The one, but certainly not only. My successor here on Earth has taken over my more mundane duties, leaving me free to watch the skies for threats against the planet I love..." With a bone-weary sigh, his horrible fatigue washed over the empath. "And there are so very many."

Raven pursed her lips, searching for something eloquent and convincing to say, but her desperation only brought the same three words to mind over and over. "I need help." It was a declaration made all the more painful by its simplicity.

"The daughter of Trigon seeks aid from a Green Lantern?" Scott's expression was caught between smugness and offense. "Perhaps you're not aware of the atrocities your father has—"

"I am painfully, desperately aware of what my father has done, and what he will do if he is allowed to escape again," she snapped. "I was forced by the monks of Azar to recite a list, every single day, of all the worlds he consumed... . And I still do. I know it by heart." She took a calming breath, wishing it would restore far more of her composure than it did. "If you wish to ridicule me, berate me, beat me, I will accept it all without complaint... but first, _I need your help_. I understand that healing with a Lantern's ring is a difficult process, but it will be the difference between life and death for two people: I have suffered a fatal chest wound that I cannot heal myself, but more importantly, there is a boy being crucified at this very moment, and he is about to die on that cross."

The Lantern tilted his head back and studied her. "You appear to be rather healthy, for someone with a fatal chest wound."

"The product of this place," she said, gesturing around them. "As soon as I return to a normal dimension, my wound will be there once more, and I will die in seconds unless I receive healing."

Scott nodded, but she detected no concern from him. "And what exactly is this place?"

"We are, as near as I can tell, in a pocket dimension inhabited by the animals that Beast Boy can become. Everything exists here in its ideal form... and as you can see, all in green."

"Fascinating," the gray-haired man mused. "A connection to the same Red that Animal Man uses, yet your friend accesses it through willpower. This boy would make a good Lantern one day."

"I did not bring you here to discuss the nature of his abilities," Raven said, patience wearing thin. "I brought you here because healing wounds this drastic is beyond the scope of mine. I can't hold time still and heal him simultaneously."

Alan Scott crossed his arms. "And why should I help you? I stopped meddling in these sorts of affairs long ago. The death of one hero, or two, while tragic on an individual level, is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. I work on the scale of galaxies, little demon."

"As do I, Lantern," she growled, her second set of eyes flashing to life. "If you know that my father is Trigon the Terrible, then you also know that the whole of his power can be mine with two sentences. I am, at this moment, the single greatest threat to your world and countless others. You can either help me save Beast Boy, or try your luck against the armies of Outer Perdition after he dies."

"You don't seem to be making a strong case for yourself," Green Lantern said with a supercilious smile. "You blackmail me with the destruction of the planet I am sworn to protect and expect me to cave to your demands? Tell me why I shouldn't wipe you from existence."

A horrible silence passed between them. Raven's hands began to shake, and when she blinked, her eyes returned to normal. "Because despite my parentage, I'm also just a foolish girl who's realized too late that she's in love. I cannot stand the thought of a world without Garfield Logan, without his smiles and horrible jokes and tofu breath making everything work as it should." The empath took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to hold back her tears. "I've fought Trigon all my life... but if Gar dies, my only hope is resurrection, and that means giving my father what he wants."

"You would doom the galaxy for the love of a boy?" The aged Lantern looked at her with a mix of disbelief and reproach.

"Yes," she answered simply, still shocked by her own confession. "Not for _a_ boy, but for _my_ boy."

"And you think he would want this?"

Raven gave a smile that twisted her stomach to match her lips. "Our story has never been about what either of us want; with the two of us, it's always a matter of need. And I need Garfield."

The sorceress and the intergalactic templar looked at one another for a long moment before the latter closed his eyes and nodded. "Very well."

Raven's eyes bulged. "Wait, really?" She resisted the urge to slap herself in the forehead for channeling Garfield's less articulate side, instead focusing on the Lantern's next words.

"Understand, Raven," Earth's protector said, resting a hand on her shoulder, "I did not agree because of the threat you pose, formidable though it might be. I could kill you now before you could utter those magic words, and be back on New Oa in seconds." A world-weary smile deepened the cracks that ran across his weathered face. "But believe it or not, I was once young and in love. And while I did not burn the galaxy down around me in the name of that love, I remember a time when I might have, under different circumstances."

Tears formed and fell faster than Raven could stop them. "Thank you," she whispered.

Alan Scott merely nodded, letting his hand fall from her shoulder. "Shall we?" he asked.

A black soul surrounded them both, and they disappeared with a distinctive bird call.

—

Garfield jerked awake screaming, panting, hands shooting instantly to his throat to find a collar _collar_ _COLLAR_ oh god it was real he was dying and Raven was going to be trapped forever or worse what if Away disintegrated when he died?

His nostrils flared, gathering scents in a mad scramble. There was blood and tears and burning sandalwood— Raven.

Raven was here.

Time slowed to a pace resembling normal, and she was there cradling his head to her chest. He didn't know how it had happened, but his Raven was alive and well.

Her voice, heavy with tears though it was, sounded so sweet to him. The words themselves were a blur of syllables, having no significance of their own; that tone, though, the worry and relief and so many other things mixed together— that was what held all the meaning.

Gar breathed deeply, inhaling the scent of her hair, quieting his trembling soul with waves of olfactory comfort. When his heart was steady enough, he pulled back from her enough to see her face.

He had only a split second to admire those violet eyes before they came too close to focus on, and her lips met with his ever so briefly. She pulled back trembling, and his hand moved of its own accord to cup the side of her face. Then they were joined again.

Desperate mouths worked against each other, concentrating every pent-up emotion each of them felt into the space of a few square inches and communicating it in a rush of sensation. Time lost meaning once more, but in the most glorious of ways. When they swam up and breached the surface of the moment, they could only stare at one another.

"Hey," he whispered, unable to summon anything more articulate.

"Hey," she replied before teary eyes spilled over once more and she planted her chin on his shoulder. "Oh, Gar," she said between sobs, "I thought I was going to lose you before I got a chance to say it."

He pulled back, face crinkled in confusion. "Say what?"

Raven closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes. To answer your question from before, I _am_ asking you out on a date, Garfield Logan. And when we're on that date, I have some very important things to tell you."

Gar's mouth gaped, and no amount of willing it closed would make the muscles comply.

"Really?" a voice called from behind him. "You're making him wait? I was hoping I'd get to see the fireworks."

Beast Boy whirled around, scrambling to his feet and assuming a fighting crouch. Powers or not, he was going to protect Raven. Within an instant of regaining his footing, though, his legs buckled and he collapsed onto closed fists. Fighting a wave of dizziness, he saw a man approaching, clad in glowing green armor. His features were severe, but the hint of a smile softened them.

"No way," Gar whispered. "Alan Scott? Now I know I died and went to heaven."

The smile faded. "Not quite, young man, but you came very, very close. If it hadn't been for that girl, you certainly would have. She held the flow of time still while I healed both of you."

Beast Boy cocked his head to the side, and promptly tumbled over onto his back. "Raven can stop time?"

"Only when the world is about to end," the empath's voice said from somewhere above him. The absolute sincerity in her voice brought the gravity of the statement home hard.

"Rae, I..."

"In any case," Green Lantern said, placing an oddly companionable hand on each of Beast Boy's shoulders as he propped him up, "She's a keeper. It takes quite a convincing argument to pull me away from New Oa to play medic. And speaking of New Oa... it's about time I got back. I wish you both a happy future together. I'll look in on you from time to time when I need to remember why I'm up there." Lifting the changeling to his knees to let him balance on his own, the galactic guardian bent close to whisper in his ear. "And if ever the time comes for me to pass on my ring, be ready for it to find its way to you." With that, he surrounded himself in a green bubble and was gone.

Garfield Logan brought a trembling hand up to scratch his head. "I'm going on a date with Raven, and the Green Lantern just offered me a job? I should get killed more often."

The words had scarcely left his mouth before two pairs of blazing red eyes were in his face. "Do not even _joke_ about that, Garfield! If you had died—"

"Whoa, whoa," he cried, hands on the empath's shoulders. "I didn't mean it! I just... I'm trying to process, okay? Bad jokes are how I do that, remember?"

Red gave way to purple, and the sorceress looked down. "I... I know, Gar. It's just..."

Garfield smiled. "Yeah, long day for both of us. Let's get back to the hotel and get in touch with the..." He trailed off, blood freezing in his veins. "The Titans! Slade planted bombs in the hotel!"

—

**AN:** Totally making up the nature of Beast Boy's powers here... but man, doesn't it open up some awesome possibilities? Also, my vision of Alan Scott here is pulled straight from Kingdom Come. For a reference: [4dotbpdotblogspotdotcom] /-fa6BR0yAuMo/T9FXxA0kSOI/AAAAAAAAAEc/CB9LE4g7L2c/ s1600/photo+(5).JPG . Sorry for the hassle; FF really doesn't like links, apparently.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: **Hello from sunny Siberia! It's been way too long since I updated this, but I've been horrifically busy. Teaching seven university ESL classes a week to three different years of students, while having zero prior formal teaching experience... it's been a hell of a ride, to say the least. Thanks for sticking with me, and to the anons whom I can't thank via PM for reviewing all my other stories, thank you!

**Note 2:** Tweaked a couple bits of this thanks to a helpful review by Qoheleth.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Teen Titans or Spain. Just in case you were unclear on that.

**CHAPTER 11**

As his portable supercomputer combed through footage from every available surveillance camera in Barcelona, Cyborg paced around the room, fuming at Robin's latest order. With both Beast Boy and Raven's communicators offline, one of the remaining Titans had to stay at the hotel in case one of their missing teammates showed up while the others were out combing the city. It made logical sense that Victor would be the one to remain behind, as he could do the most good from a technological standpoint. Still, he felt so helpless sitting in a hotel room while his best friend was out there somewhere; his feet should have been out on the cobblestones like everyone else's.

Just as he was about to complete another circuit, a swirling ball of blackness appeared in his path, and a screech echoed around the room. The pair he had been so desperately hunting materialized barely a foot in front of him. Raven brought her chin up from where it rested on Beast Boy's shoulder, and her arms unwrapped from around his chest, sliding down to his hips, ready to grab him once more if he fell.

The boy wobbled and held his hands to his sides for balance, and Victor gasped. A brutal-looking collar bristled from his best friend's neck. Both arms, his bare feet, and his left side were covered in dried blood, and judging by the horrifically pale shade of green his skin had turned, the blood was almost definitely all his.

When the changeling's eyes fell on Victor, they widened and he began shouting, grabbing ahold of the larger boy. "Cy, we gotta get you outta here! It's not safe! Slade set bombs here to—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, Grass Stain," he said, hands under Garfield's armpits to keep him from collapsing. "I've had a machine scanning the hotel for listening devices and explosives ever since we got here. There are no bombs."

The boy stopped short. "No bombs?"

"Nope. Not a single one. We're safe here."

"Then Slade... lied... I could have..." His best friend blinked several times, as if confused, then his face contorted into a look of utter despair, and a high-pitched keening began in his chest. Beast Boy curled in on himself and dropped to his knees, head in his hands as he rocked back and forth.

Victor stared, paralyzed by the impossibility of the scene in front of him. He had seen the Green Bean cry more often than anyone, and that still only amounted to a handful of times. Never had he seen him this broken. And Raven was there, on her knees beside him, whispering tender reassurances as she stroked his hair.

"Okay, what's going—"

"Not now, Victor," Raven said, head snapping up to look at him. Her eyes shone with tears as well. "Just... call the others."

Without hesitation, Cyborg reached for his communicator. "Titans, we've got them. Beast Boy and Raven are back, and it's not good. Get back to the hotel ASAP." Message delivered, he took a knee to help his friend however he could.

Scant minutes later, Beast Boy's sobs had not even begun to subside, and Starfire and Robin entered the room, relief and concern written on their faces. Taking up a spot alongside the others, they knelt and placed their hands on their friend, reminding Gar of their presence. There was nothing more they could do.

It took a long time for the tears to stop, but eventually Garfield stirred, sat up, and wiped his eyes, heedless of the flecks of dried blood that rehydrated and smeared on his face. His mouth wobbled for a moment as he tried to force a smile onto it and failed. "Hey, guys," he said in a shaky voice.

A gasp came from Starfire, and Victor found her staring at Beast Boy's neck. "That is..." she declared quietly, eyes wide with fear.

Raven bobbed her head once in confirmation, a hand going to where Starfire's lay on his back. "Yes, it is, but they're not involved. This was only Slade, acting alone. Do you know how to remove it?"

The princess swallowed and nodded, fingers running to precise points on the collar. Her hands glowed green, and the collar fell to the ground, hissing and smoking.

"Okay, we need to know what happened," Robin said, face stony but voice tremulous. It did Cyborg's heart good to see that the Boy Wonder hadn't been able to wall himself off completely, even if he was trying to maintain objectivity as a leader. "Beast Boy, tell us—"

"**_NO._**" The room reverberated with the impossibly deep voice, and Raven's hands tightened on Garfield's shoulders, four red eyes flickering into being before fading out with a blink. Raven shook her head, and though she was marginally calmer, she still had a fiercely protective look on her face. "If you want to know anything, ask me. The only thing Gar is going to do right now is sleep."

"Rae," the changeling whispered. "As much as I want to, I can't. We have to get to the Watchtower and warn them what's going on. Slade's still out there, and he's got what he needs to take all of us down."

—

The room where the debriefing took place was suitably intimidating; the founding members of the Justice League sat high above the Titans behind an oversized, near-indestructible version of a judge's bench, Zatanna also present as a special liaison for matters pertaining to magic. Raven had been in this place once before, and she felt no less like a criminal on trial this time. If she were to ask Beast Boy, though, he would probably say it reminded him of the live TV stream of boring Senate meetings, or maybe Judge Janie. His brand of oddball optimism was one of the first things that had somehow transformed from annoying to endearing over the years.

They had all given testimony, being sure to omit Batman's warning to Robin in their accounts of what had transpired. While Raven was fairly certain the leak had been sanctioned by Superman at the very least, that didn't mean this wasn't a test of the Titans' ability to keep a secret. With Batman, _everything_ was a test.

Chronologically, it had made the most sense for the other three to speak first, as they hadn't had as much to say about the most recent events. Robin had supplied the general summary, with the others supplementing details where pertinent. By unspoken agreement, the schism in the hotel had been left out; it was immaterial, and a private matter between the five of them. Beast Boy had simply snuck out for a walk and been tracked down by Raven... and then came the part of the narrative that was only theirs.

They traded off as necessary; often one of them would slip an extra detail into the other's story, and Raven found herself taking over whenever Garfield lapsed into uncharacteristic moments of brooding. Upon the insistence of Zatanna and Hal Jordan, Beast Boy explained the nature of Away as best he understood it, Raven adding Alan Scott's theory but not yet mentioning him by name. The younger Green Lantern perked up visibly at the idea.

The events at the Sagrada Familia were a stumbling block. When Garfield fell silent and Raven tried to give her account, Zatanna rebuked her, insisting that the testimony come from firsthand knowledge. Summoning up a swell of courage to beat back terror that was palpable even to the least observant among them, Garfield took hold of the empath's hand, squeezed, and began in a low, shaky voice. Whenever his emotional turmoil grew too great, Raven would siphon away as much as she could safely handle without her powers flaring up; the last thing they needed was for him to break down in front of the Justice League, but blowing out the lights in the Watchtower was close behind.

Gar kept the details of the torture sparse, concentrating instead on the information the assassin had given while he gloated. Still, the scene floated in his mind, at times growing so vivid that Raven's sight was overwhelmed with images of Slade raising the bloodied hammer again and again. Finally, mercifully, he came to the point in the crucifixion at which he lost consciousness.

The young sorceress picked up the narrative, explaining the temporal halt and her call for help. At the mention of Alan Scott's appearance, the panel erupted, and she had to raise her voice via magic to make the final sentence of her testimony heard. When Raven was done, as she had predicted, Zatanna's voice was the one that cut through.

"You kidnapped one of Earth's greatest guardians, leaving the planet undefended, to heal a second-rate teammate on a second-tier team?" she spat, disdain dripping from each syllable.

"I did nothing of the sort," Raven shot back. "I'm going to ignore your childish insults in favor of actual facts, and those facts are as follows: I stopped time and called for help. I know you heard that call, Zatanna, daughter of Zatara, Earth's greatest magician. Healing is child's play for a descendant of the Homo Magi, but you chose not to answer; I'm certain you had something more _important_ to do. Alan Scott, out of all the people in the world that my distress call reached, chose to respond. And despite the taxing ordeal that healing with a Lantern's powers involves, he willingly chose to save our lives." A wicked, bitter smile squirmed around her lips. "I wonder... if no one had answered and I had gone to my father for aid, finally proving you were right about me, would that vindication have been enough to quiet the screams of the millions who would have died?"

The entire room stared at her aghast. Beast Boy's eyes shone with shock and disapproval, and in the silence, his whisper of, "No, Rae, no..." echoed like a shout.

For the first time since Robin's testimony, Batman spoke. "You mean to say that you would have destroyed the world to save Beast Boy, sacrificed millions of lives for his?"

Raven looked down, chewing her lip. "I can't be sure; that wasn't what happened today, but is it a possibility? Certainly. I'd like to think I'd take the higher ground, but apart from the four people standing here with me, there's no one on Earth to whom I owe anything."

Superman bristled. "You owe more than you—"

"Do not presume to lecture me on my duties to Earth, Kryptonian," she snarled. "I have spent _every one_ of my days on this planet dedicated to serving its interests. Again and again, I have saved its people, often at a terrible personal cost. And the one time, the _one time_ I called for help, the only person to respond was the man who had furthest removed himself from Earth. I owe you nothing, and I owe this world nothing. So you'll have to forgive me if I value my family's lives more than the cattle we protect."

Again there was silence. Finally, Batman stood. "We will confer in private. You'll be escorted to a room where you can all rest until we reach a decision."

"Decision?" Beast Boy asked, cocking his head. "What's there to decide?"

"Among other things," Superman replied, "The matter of what to do with _her_." He pointed down at Raven.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: **I've finally gotten a chance to write from Starfire's point of view again in a moment where she can shine! She's an incredible character, but probably the hardest for me to write. Please, let me know if it worked. Also, shadowjack12345 noted that Supes was coming off as a bit of an ass in the last chapter; that wasn't my intention, but with just two lines of dialogue and Raven's direct threats to Earth, it's tough to paint a full picture. I'm putting a tiny bit of explanation in here, and hopefully it doesn't clog the flow of the story.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Teen Titans, and I've borrowed something else that I'll mention at the end of the chapter.

**Chapter 12**

Robin and Cyborg paced around the room like a pair of moons orbiting the same planet. They were most likely unaware of one another's presence, so lost were they in their thoughts. Starfire watched them pass yet again as she sat on one end of the large couch that occupied most of the room, hazarding a glance back yet again to be sure her other friends were still all right.

Raven and Beast Boy were coping as best they knew how, which was to say that Beast Boy had fumed and ranted about the Justice League's hubris until Raven had sedated him with a quick apology. Since then, she had not left his side. Now, even in sleep, he twitched and whimpered, though the occasional coherent word let Starfire know that he was experiencing something far more horrific than Superman's declaration. Raven sat with his head in her lap as she sat cross-legged on the couch, stroking his hair and chanting her mantra. Tears leaked from beneath her closed eyelids.

"Friend Raven," Starfire began, worried at interrupting the sorceress but hopeful that she could offer a solution to some of her friends' pain. "I do not wish to tell you how to use your powers, but... if it is possible to take some of Friend Beast Boy's torment from him—"

"I already am, Starfire," Raven said, eyes opening for the first time in several minutes. "I cast a spell on him that should have sent him into a dreamless sleep, but with a trauma of this magnitude, it occasionally forces its way to the surface regardless of any magic. All I can do is siphon off the worst of it, like I'm doing right now."

The princess sighed, searching for answers though she knew there were none. "And if we were to wake him?"

Raven shook her head, and a pair of tears dropped from her cheeks onto the comforter, only to be replaced by more. "He needs the sleep, however tortured it might be; it's the best chance his mind has of processing and overcoming what happened to him."

Nodding, Starfire turned back to see Robin and Cyborg completing another circuit. Just as she was about to call out to Robin, the door to their room opened and the Green Lantern strode through. Koriand'r suppressed a snarl at the man's presence; indulging her own grudge would not help their cause.

"Hal," Robin said, nerves evident in his voice, "What's the decision?"

The Lantern chewed his lip. "You guys split us pretty good on this one; after what Raven said back there, Zatanna's out for her blood. Stripping her powers, the whole nine yards."

Robin didn't blink. "I'm not surprised; she's had a grudge against Raven since long before today. How'd the rest of the League vote?"

"At first, the majority were with her... to be honest, there was only one holdout. He can be pretty convincing when he wants to be, though."

The black mask crinkled. "Why are you referring to yourself in the third person?"

Hal looked down. "Cause it wasn't me, Robin. I was ready to drop the hammer." When he looked up again, his expression was grave. "The only reason your teammate isn't getting a magical lobotomy right now is because Batman believed in her enough to fight for her."

Shaking his head, Robin ran a hand through his hair. "That doesn't make any sense; he's hardly even met her. Why would he stick up for her?"

"Because _you_ believe in her, Robin. That's enough for him."

The Boy Wonder turned his back on the Green Lantern and stumbled over to Starfire. Dropping down to sit beside her, he looked back at Hal Jordan with an expression that foretold a long discussion in Robin's future. "So... what happens now?"

With a wry smile, the Lantern spread his hands. "Nothing. Could Raven pose a serious threat to the world if she ever does give in to her father? Absolutely. Superman still has reservations; I think it's because he's already lost one home, and he's afraid of losing another. But there wasn't a single person sitting behind that bench today who's not capable of tearing the Earth apart if they choose to do so. We trust each other to act for good; all we can do is extend the same trust to her and ask her to live up to it."

From her position on the couch, Raven looked up. "Thank you," she said, her words quiet yet laden with emotion.

"You're welcome, Raven," Hal said. "I know it's not much of a comfort right now, but Beast Boy is an incredibly brave young man. His information on Slade and Professor Ivo is going to make a world of difference in preparing for this threat, and we'll be watching to be sure you five don't need backup when the AMAZO prototype comes to Jump City. Also, I paid a little visit to Alan to get his side of the story, and he's got a very high opinion of the boy. In fact, when he's ready to pass the ring along, he's got his eye on Garfield as a replacement."

Starbolts lit Koriand'r's hands unbidden, so great was her surge of righteous fury. "Garfield would _never_ join your kind," she snarled, springing to her feet. "He is too good and kind to be a Lantern."

"Watch yourself, Princess," Green Lantern snapped, crossing the room to stare her down. "I know we're not exactly popular on Tamaran, but I won't have you insulting the Corps just because your planet is out of our jurisdiction."

"I am well aware of the ancient, outdated agreement you honor," she said, forcing her starbolts out of existence with great effort.

"Call it what you will," he said. "The treaty that keeps us out of the Vegan system has saved countless millions of lives."

Koriand'r nodded, face grim. "I have upon several occasions held the survival of my planet and my race in my hands. I am all too conscious of the sacrifices we must make for the good of the many."

"Then you understand. We know what goes on, but it's out of our control. If we could help Tamaran against the Citadel, we would."

Starfire's eyebrows made a dangerous arch. "Oh, forgive my ignorance. I am safe in believing, then, that if the Gordanian slavers who ferry my people to the Citadel were to cross the space within your jurisdiction, you would intervene?"

Hal nodded.

"That is most interesting. You see, when I was younger, before my transformation had occurred, I was held prisoner aboard just such a slave ship. You are familiar with a wide variety of their tortures, I am certain, but have you heard of _elghinn xindar_?"

The man in green went pale at the name. Taking this as confirmation, she continued.

"The Gordanians purposely crossed out of Vegan space for a full year, promising me that if a single Lantern were to contact them, they would release me to the custody of the Green Lantern Corps... but if their encroachment was ignored, the Citadel would perform _elghinn xindar_ on me at the end of that year. I hoped, I pleaded, I prayed to X'Hal... and no one came. Every day, my captors laughed at me and mocked your apathy, and when we arrived at the Citadel homeworld, they did everything they had promised."

Starfire was vaguely aware of Robin's presence behind her; she was certain that if she turned, she would find shock and hurt written all over his face. If she looked, she would break down... and that was not an option yet.

"You are aware of the effects of that particular torture," she continued, "Just as you are aware of my royal status on Tamaran. It is true that I entrusted the rule of my planet to Galfore because I wished to remain on Earth. Beyond that, though, I knew that I would bear no children to carry on the And'r line, and I needed to establish a new royal bloodline to keep Tamaran from falling into civil war between the old families." A tear slipped from Starfire's eye, but her expression did not change. "My brother is lost, my sister exiled. My house dies with me, Lantern, because _your beloved Corps_ did not see fit to even investigate a slave ship violating your borders. Your people's apathy is legendary among Gordanians and Tamaraneans alike, and I cannot let myself believe that my friend Beast Boy would ever allow himself to be party to such casual injustice."

The man's face was heavy with sorrow. "Starfire, I am so, so sorry. I never knew... I don't think any of us did."

"The burden of those six years under the lash are mine to bear, Hal Jordan," she said. "And while the unbridled joy that first allowed me to fly away from that ship sprang from ripping out the heart of the creature who had repeatedly violated me, the journey brought me to Earth... and here, I have more reasons to fly than I could ever have hoped."

The Green Lantern nodded, face still pale. "I know it's too little and too late, but I promise you, I'll speak with the other Lanterns about setting up regular patrols along the Vegan border. We can at least save a few lives before the Gordanians learn to stay out of our reach."

"Thank you," she said.

He gave another small nod. "Your rooms are almost ready; we'll send you back to Earth tomorrow morning after you've had a chance to rest. If there's anything else I can do, just let me know." With that, the green-masked man turned and strode from the room.

As soon as the door had closed, Starfire let herself collapse into Robin's arms. She did not relish the conversation to come, but she knew it was long overdue.

**AN:** _Elghinn xindar_ is Kryalla Orchid's creation, used with her kind permission. If there's something awesome (or brilliantly twisted) in fanon, chances are pretty good that it started with Kry. I've messed with it a bit, though: now, giving birth kills both mother and child.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN:** This fic is turning into a beast, but we're almost done... I think. Thanks for bearing with me despite long gaps between updates, and thank you especially for your feedback! It's turned this story into something much better than what it would have been.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own the Titans, but I play one on TV. And by on TV, I mean in the bedroom.

**CHAPTER 13**

Raven awoke to the sound of running water and a feeling of terror and anguish that wrapped her heart in razor wire. Her hand shot immediately to where Garfield had been lying, and found it empty. A quick look around the bedroom she had refused to abandon since depositing Beast Boy beside her showed her that he was nowhere in sight; still, the sound of water hitting a soft target gave her a good idea of where to look.

She rushed to the in-suite bathroom and found it locked. With a soft curse, she wrapped herself in black energy and teleported. The irony of crossing dimensional boundaries to travel two feet briefly occurred to her, but was shoved aside as she materialized standing on Gar's clothes in the foggy bathroom.

The green boy was slumped against the shower wall, head resting on crossed forearms. Massive sobs wracked his body, and between them, desperate pleas tumbled from his lips. Without another thought, Raven rushed forward to turn off the water. Before the last trickles had subsided, she was on her knees with Garfield, gathering his head to her chest. His temperature was significantly above normal; he had been under the scalding spray for quite some time.

"Garfield, it's me," she said, gently shaking him. "It's okay, we're in the Watchtower, it's over."

With a gasp and a cry, Beast Boy's head shot up, eyes wide, and he seized handfuls of Raven's leotard, the only garment she was wearing at the moment. It was then that she realized the reason he always wore gloves: long claws on his fingertips tore through the material and left deep scratches in her skin. She pushed aside the pain and continued to reassure him, stroking his sopping hair and murmuring whatever reassurances came to mind. "It's over, Gar. He can't hurt you anymore."

The hands that had been balled into bloody fists slowly unclenched, and he took a ragged breath. "Really? I thought that was exactly what he was doing right now." His eyes widened as he registered the damage on her shoulders. "Oh god, Rae, I'm so sorry, I didn't—"

"I'm fine," Raven said as quickly as she could. "I'm much more worried about you than a couple scratches." She reached out a tentative hand to his cheek, and she felt comfort flow through both of them when he leaned into her touch. The sorceress took advantage of the lull to let her body heal itself of the minor wounds; she didn't mind them, but Beast Boy would continue to feel guilty as long as they remained.

After just a few seconds of stroking, Garfield began to quiver. "I... I just wanted to take a shower. I know I showered before we went to bed, but I woke up feeling like I was still covered in blood, and I couldn't think of anything except washing it off. But no matter how hard I scrubbed or how hot I made the water, it wouldn't come off... and then I fell, and he was there all over again." His eyes welled up with tears once again. "I can't even take a shower without falling apart. I'm useless."

"You're not useless, Gar," she said, leaning closer to look him straight in the eye. "You went through a horrific ordeal, and it's still fresh. It'll get better soon; you'll see."

"Nah. For once, you're wrong, Raven," he replied with a tragic, infinitesimal smile that faded quicker than it had appeared. "Slade did it... he won. He broke me, Rae." The changeling dragged a halfhearted forearm across his face, doing more to smear the saltwater and mucus than wipe it away. "I can't face him again; I can't even think of him without feeling..." Beast Boy gritted his teeth and growled as though his tears could be intimidated into staying in his eyes. His efforts failed, and he drew gasping breaths as he forced the words from his gut. "Feeling the nails going in." He locked his gaze on Raven, and the mix of terror and resignation that didn't belong in those eyes frightened her. "He's still out there, and we're going to have to fight him. And when we do... I'll be useless."

Raven placed what she hoped was a reassuring hand on the green boy's shoulder. "You've undergone massive physical and psychological trauma, Gar._ No one _is expecting you to face Slade for a long time after this. There's counseling, medication..."

"We both know there's not gonna be time for that, Rae. Whatever he's planning, he'll strike soon. I need you to take these memories away so I can be ready."

The sorceress shook her head. "Garfield, erasing memories is a horrible, messy process no matter what approach you use. There are only two ways I can go about doing that, and neither one is good."

The changeling considered her words, chewing his lower lip. "How bad are we talking?"

Her hand dropped away, and she took a deep breath. "The first option is to use your experience with Slade as a focal point and blast it from your memory. Unfortunately, it's difficult to predict how strong the effect will be. Depending on a variety of factors, you could end up forgetting who Slade is entirely, maybe even everything related to him, including the Titans. In the worst case scenario, it could backfire, your mind would collapse, and that experience would be _all_ you remember."

Beast Boy gulped. "And the other one?"

"A time-based memory wipe. I would have to take away every memory of the event, and it..." Raven paused, cursing the wobble in her voice. "It would most likely take all of the trip to Barcelona with it, possibly more. It's gentler in some ways... and if we have to do this, it's the only one I'm willing to put us through." She took a deep breath. "So I'm going to ask you just once, Gar: do we really need to do this?"

The boy's hands trembled, and he looked down, another tear falling to drop at his feet. "Yes. We're going to have to fight him, and I can't do that with these memories holding me back. I don't have time to recover from this before he shows up again. For the good of the team, I need to forget." His head snapped up. "Wait, you said put '_us'_ through. Why '_us'_?"

With a soft curse under her breath, Raven was forced to explain her slip. " It... may also destroy or severely damage memories and feelings connected with... the things that have happened in the past few days."

Understanding shone in the boy's eyes. "I might forget us... that there even _is_ an us."

Raven nodded, mentally chanting her mantra to keep her composure. "And damaging the connected pathways may erode the feelings you had before this trip."

A deep, heaving sigh inflated Garfield's chest, leaving him looking smaller and more defeated than before when it left his body. "That bastard took everything from me, didn't he?" Despair radiated from the changeling's soul, mingling with Raven's own. Just as she was about to speak, determination pierced the fog and Beast Boy took hold of her hands. "This spell... does it change my personality?"

"In theory, no," she replied. "It doesn't alter who you are at your core, but it can impact the experiences that have shaped you. We wouldn't be going very far back, so any change shouldn't be too drastic."

"Good," he said, not releasing his grip. "Because as long as I'm me and you're you, I'm _always_ gonna end up loving you, Raven. It may take me a while to get there, so I need you to be patient with me... but don't ever give up on me."

"I won't give up," she said, tears shining in her eyes. "Gar, I l—"

Her declaration was cut short by a pair of lips colliding with hers. The kiss was every bit as passionate as the one they had shared in the church, but a feeling of sadness permeated it as well. Raven tasted salt, and when they separated, both of them had fresh tears flowing from their eyes.

"Don't say that yet," he murmured, stroking her hair with a shaky hand. "Once you say it, it'll never be far from your mind. It's gonna be hard enough waiting for me without that hanging over you, Rae. I'm trying to make this as easy as I can for you."

Anger flared in the empath's chest, and she jabbed her finger into his chest to punctuate her words. "No. I don't _want_ easy. If I wanted easy, my heart wouldn't have little green pawprints tracked all over it. You never took the easy way in this relationship, and I'm not going to this time. _Screw_ easy." She savored the delicious spike of shock and Beast Boy's slack-jawed stare before bringing her hands to his face and pulling him eye to eye with her. "I love you, Garfield Logan, and I'm going to keep loving you whether you like it or not." With that, she closed the distance between them once again.

Raven would have been content to let their kiss go on until something exploded, but after just moments, Beast Boy was extricating himself as gently as he could. "Gar," she began, "Why are you—"

"Uh, I... well..." he stammered. "See, I just remembered all my clothes are kinda on the floor, so I don't have any..." His eyes darted from side to side. "On... right now... and, uh, when I kiss you... _things_ happen."

The empath struggled to understand his words and the hot, squirming discomfort that accompanied them. "What do you mean, '_things_'—" She stopped short, eyes wide, feeling a rush of blood to her cheeks and... areas she had largely tried to ignore. It took every scrap of Raven's considerable self-control not to look down. Of course, she could chalk it up to an embarrassed accident...

Before her internal debate had a chance to decide itself, Gar resolved the issue for her by shifting into a dog. With a vigorous shake, he sprayed Raven with a healthy dose of shower water, prompting a squeal she would have to vehemently deny ever having emitted. "Beast Boy," she growled, glaring at the canine in question. Before she had a chance to properly chastise him, though, something out of the ordinary caught her eye. She looked a bit closer, and when she realized just what she was seeing, the soap dispenser began spinning around and spraying its contents all over the countertop and mirror.

Apparently certain... states didn't change when Garfield took an animal form.

Realizing what had caused such a reaction in her, the dog made a strange noise and became Beast Boy once more, both hands making a valiant effort to hide the evidence of... "things".

The boy sprang from the shower with his back to Raven, blindly slapping the wall in search of a towel. The sorceress covered her eyes with one hand, but couldn't seem to make her fingers obey and fully block her view of Garfield's shapely backside.

She was going to have to have a long chat with someone in Nevermore... possibly a few someones.

The towel wove its way around the changeling's waist, and he turned back to her, not noticing the gap in her fingers. "Uh, okay," he stammered. "I'm decent again."

"More than decent," she mumbled absently as she let her hand drop. When Raven's words registered with her own brain, her eyes bulged yet again, and she shut her mouth with enough force to make her teeth click together. Who in Azar's name was running the show in Nevermore right now?

Beast Boy cocked his head and wiggled a finger in his ear. "Sorry, what was that, Rae?"

"Nothing!" she all but shouted, then coughed and repeated herself at a more reasonable volume.

One green eyebrow rose, but Gar said nothing as he pulled a pair of boxers on underneath the towel, wriggling in a way that Raven found somewhere between amusing and erotic. Her expression must have been an odd one, because he stopped with his pants in hand and strode over to her. A palm went to her forehead. "You okay, Raven? You look a little out of it."

An involuntary shiver went through Raven's body at the feel of his skin on hers, and she drew a ragged breath. "Gar, I am trying _very_ hard not to jump you right now," she said, enunciating every syllable in her struggle for control. "So unless you want that towel to end up in other dimension, I think you had better put some pants on."

Beast Boy let out a squeak and scrambled into the baggy sweatpants Cyborg had brought to the Watchtower for him. "There we go," he said. "All better."

Raven barely caught herself before a remark about liking him better in nothing at all slipped out. Thankfully she had had the presence of mind to bring her mirror with her to the Justice League's base; she had known she would need to deal with some strong emotions, but this particular kind was beyond unexpected.

"I have to have a chat with the Mini-Me's," she said when Gar had managed to collect all of his clothes into a bundle. "I'll try to make it quick, but at the moment, I really don't want to leave you alone. You're probably fine, but... just in case, do you feel comfortable with me calling Cyborg to keep you company until I get back?"

The changeling's smile was wobbly, and a mixture of panic and embarrassment danced at the edges. "Are you sure I can't just come with you? It's the middle of the night, and he's bound to be sleeping right now."

"Did you miss the part where Cyborg specifically told us to wake him up for any reason at all? He _wants_ to help, Garfield."

Shame seeped into her chest from Gar's wayward emotions, hot and wet. It felt like she was back in the scorching shower. "I..." His voice cracked, and she felt self-loathing scratching at his heart with poison claws. "I don't want anyone else to see me like this. I can handle you knowing, but... I'm so damn broken, Rae, and right now I don't think I can take anybody else finding out how bad it is. Not even Cy."

Raven opened her mouth to object, but her would-be boyfriend's pleading broke through all of her logic and carefully-constructed arguments. It would be nice to bring him along; perhaps could some time with Happy would do him good. "All right," she conceded. "But I reserve the right to pull us back out of my head at any point, and if that happens, we call Cyborg immediately. Deal?"

Nodding, the green boy smiled, relief palpable in the air even without her empathy. "Deal. Thanks, Rae."


End file.
